The former president of the Generalitat, Carles Puigdemont, in Alguero this Saturday.YARA NARDI / Reuters
Alghero (Sardinia) was transformed on Saturday into the place most similar to Catalonia where the former president of the Generalitat, Carles Puigdemont, could land since he fled Spain in 2017. After spending 24 hours in a maximum security Sardinian prison and waiting for Appearing on October 4 in the court of Sassari, the independence leader was received with ovations in the center of the city, considered by the independence movement as one of the last cultural confines of Catalonia. A day where he monopolized the spotlight and in which he tried to exhibit the magnetism that still awakens in a part of the independentistas. The president of the Generalitat, Pere Aragonès, who arrived at noon after a long boat trip, met with him for a few minutes. Puigdemont said that the appointment was "warm, empathetic, excited",and that ongoing political issues were not addressed.
Puigdemont had the whole day to walk around the city and meet with the Sardinian authorities (the president of the region, Christian Solinas, and the mayor, Mario Conoci). He was greeted by a group of about 800 Catalans displaced to Alghero and boasted of how the last legal chapter of his flight was once again helping to “internationalize” his cause. He then accused the government of Pedro Sánchez - who was probably the least politically convenient for the situation - of being behind his arrest. “It has not been our merit. We have had great help from the Spanish State and we encourage them to continue doing so ”, he ironized. Puigdemont appeared accompanied by his lawyer, Gonzalo Boye, and the director of his office, Josep Lluís Alay. But also from various representatives of Junts per Catalunya, such as its general secretary, Jordi Sànchez.
The former president of the Generalitat, who had lost his immunity as a European parliamentarian in July and was arrested in Sardinia on Thursday, is waiting for the Italian justice to decide on the validity of the euro order issued against him by the instructor in the case of the procés, Judge Pablo Llarena, on October 14, 2019. On Monday he will return to Belgium, although he assures that he will return to Sardinia on October 4 to appear before the Sassari court. On that day the hearing will be held to analyze the demand for delivery to Spain.
"The judicial strategy is the same as always," said the lawyer for the former president, Gonzalo Boye. “Always, and before the justice of all democratic states, we have appeared when they have summoned us. And we will continue to do so ”. Even so, Italian legal sources consider that, if he did not appear, the judge could archive the case by “not proceeding any longer” with his extradition from Italy.
The arrest has also served to highlight the open crack with ERC, its partner in the Government, on account of the dialogue table with the Spanish Executive. A process that the former Catalan president tried to delegitimize yesterday. “Today the world has seen that there is a part of the independence movement that is not at that table because it is not accepted. It seems that the Spanish Government only wants to dialogue with those who give it parliamentary support. That is why the government was very interested in my being arrested. We are not at that table because they do not want to, "said Puigdemont, omitting that his party did not participate in the first meeting of the table because it refused to appoint councilors as representatives therein. Nor did he explain how he believes the intervention of Spain took place. "Sánchez promised that he would hand me over to justice," he limited himself to remembering.
Relations between ERC and Junts are going through their worst moment. But Pere Aragonès decided on Friday to travel to Sardinia to support Puigdemont. He left Barcelona only a few hours after his release, but did not arrive in Alghero until Saturday at 4:00 p.m. His team decided that he should take a long ferry trip, thus delaying his arrival and leaving the spotlights even longer for Puigdemont, who had already met with the Sardinian authorities on his own when the head of the Government arrived. Both leaders sat down to chat for a few minutes and, separately, appeared before the press.
Aragonès did it standing up, in a small town square. There was not much expectation, unlike the commotion that Puigdemont raised every time he took two steps through the city. Questioned by journalists, Aragonès did not clarify anything about the impact that the detention could have on the dialogue table and tried to avoid the issue. He also did not explain if he had had any contact with the Sánchez Executive in the last hours. He limited himself to asking, in three languages, for "amnesty and a referendum."
The head of the Government assured in his lightning visit that Puigdemont's freedom will not be complete until he can return to Spain "as a free citizen" and all arrest warrants are withdrawn.
"Germany, Italy and Belgium have already shown that no crime was committed," he said, alluding to the refusal of the first two countries to extradite him.
Then, after a short tour with Puigdemont around the city, the President of the Generalitat ended his visit.
This time his team decided to do it by plane.