Ex-Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont returns to Spain after 7 years as a fugitive
Former Catalonia leader Carles Puigdemont, who fled Spain after organizing an illegal independence referendum returned to the country despite an arrest warrant.
Former Catalonia leader Carles Puigdemont, who fled Spain after organizing an illegal independence referendum in the wealthy Spanish region nearly seven years ago, returned to the country on Thursday despite a pending arrest warrant.
He defiantly appeared in Barcelona after traveling from Belgium and faces charges of embezzlement for his part in the attempt to break Catalonia away from the rest of Spain.
Puigdemont has dedicated his career to the goal of carving out a new country in north-east Spain — a struggle which is decades-old.
His largely uncompromising approach has brought political conflict with other separatist parties as well as with Spain’s central government.
Puigdemont appeared in a central Barcelona park where several thousand separatist supporters who had gathered in expectation of his arrival waved Catalan flags. He punched the air to cheers on a bright, sunny day.
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