SPAIN’S intelligence service was humiliated last year when it failed to stop supporters of Carles Puigdemont’s separatist Catalan government from smuggling in ballot boxes for an unconstitutional independence referendum. The spies got their revenge on March 25th when they tipped off German police, who arrested Mr Puigdemont after he drove across the border from Denmark. He was remanded to prison and is likely to be extradited to Spain within two months.
Mr Puigdemont’s arrest ended five months of self-imposed exile, mostly in Belgium, after he organised a post-referendum declaration of independence on October 27th. It came two days after a judge of the supreme court in Madrid charged Mr Puigdemont and 24 other separatist leaders with crimes ranging from rebellion to disobedience. He sent five to prison (four more were already there) and ordered European arrest warrants against six, including Mr Puigdemont.
Tens of thousands demonstrated in Barcelona to denounce what they see as repression of a peaceful, democratic cause. A...Continue reading
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