The leader of the Catalan independence movement and MEP Carles Puigdemon has been arrested on the Italian island of Sardinia.
The news was confirmed by his lawyer, who said that his client attended a “cultural event” as a member of the European Parliament. Puigdemon is one of the leaders of the Catalan independence movement. After the 2017 referendum on the separation of the region from Spain, declared illegal by Madrid, Puchdemon fled to Belgium.
In 2019 he was elected a member of the European Parliament. In March this year, at the request of Spain, the European Parliament lifted his immunity, and in July, the Court of Justice of the European Union finally revoked it.
Italian authorities arrested Puchdemon on the basis of a European arrest warrant issued by a judge of the Spanish Supreme Court.