Puigdemont is currently a European Parliament member.Īnother detainee, Oriol Soler, is a publisher who is considered one of the top strategists of the separatist movement. Acting against political dissidents is a huge violation of fundamental rights.”Īfter the breakaway bid collapsed, Puigdemont fled Spain to Brussels, where he has campaigned to raise support for his cause internationally. Puigdemont said on Twitter that Alay and the others “must be immediately release(d). Others included David Madi and Oriol Vendrell, two former politicians for Catalonia’s major separatist parties. Josep Lluís Alay, a close collaborator of Puigdemont who runs an office of the ex-leader in Barcelona, was one of the detained. Investigations revealed that money intended for Barcelona’s provincial government and a regional entity for promoting sports teams had been diverted illegally, the ministry said. Spain’s interior ministry said the individuals arrested on Wednesday were being investigated for alleged embezzlement and money laundering.
There was no immediate reaction from Russian officials Wednesday about the probe authorized by Aguirre. The Spanish government had accused Russia in 2017 of meddling in the Catalan conflict, a charge that Russian officials denied then. “Russian interference as a geopolitical strategy was a fact during the fall of 2017 when (the Russians) spread fake news and disinformation,” the judge said, citing online items backing the Catalan separatists spread by Russian news platforms. The Catalan separatist movement has always proclaimed non-violent beliefs, even though last year there were violent clashes with police after several top leaders were sentenced to prison for their roles in the 2017 breakaway bid.īesides the putative military aid, the probe also targets the alleged misuse of public funds for the separatist movement in Spain as well as the allegedly active role of Russian-backed disinformation campaigns to discredit Spain. The court document provided no indication that the offer was ever considered by Puigdemont, nor does it provide additional evidence that the offer was even genuine, or feasible. On the recording, one of the detainees mentions an offer by the alleged Russian agents to provide former Catalan president Carles Puigdemont with 10,000 soldiers, apparently to help in a theoretical armed conflict with Spanish authorities.
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