MADRID (Reuters) – Clara Ponsati, a member of the European Parliament for pro-Catalan independence party Junts, was set to be released on Monday after being arrested and questioned upon her return to Spain, the Supreme Court said.
In a statement, it said the judge investigating her case had ordered her release as the offence she was charged with did not carry any prison term.
Ponsati had said on her Twitter account that she had been “illegally arrested” in Barcelona earlier on Monday shortly after she travelled back to the country from Belgium.
The lawmaker was originally wanted in Spain on charges of rebellion for her role in the Catalonia region’s failed bid for independence in 2017. The charge was later reduced to disobedience, which carries lighter punishment and no prison term.
She had been living in Belgium since her election to the European Parliament in April 2019. A Spanish arrest warrant was issued against Ponsati on June 21 after she failed to appear in court.
Junts may be instrumental for a new government to be enabled after Sunday’s general election that produced a hung parliament. The party intends to use the current gridlock to achieve the northeastern region’s independence from Spain.
(Reporting by Inti Landauro; Writing by David Latona; Editing by Andrei Khalip and Mark Heinrich)
