SPANISH AUTHORITIES ON ALERT FOR ANY BID BY EXILED CATALAN LEADER TO RETURN

The Catalan separatist leader Carles Puigdemont arrives for a meeting with Danish members of Parliament, after being invited by the Faroese parliamentary member Magni Arge, at Christiansborg in Copenhagen, Denmark January 23, 2018. Mads Claus Rasmussen/Scanpix Denmark via REUTERS

Spanish authorities are monitoring borders to make sure that fugitive Catalan separatist leader Carles Puigdemont does not sneak back into Spain to take up the presidency of the regional parliament again, a senior minister said on Tuesday.

Carles Puigdemont has said he can rule from self-imposed exile in Belgium, where he fled to in October to avoid arrest for his part in organizing an illegal referendum on a Catalonian split from Spain and a subsequent unilateral declaration of independence.

The Madrid government, however, says no one can be named or rule remotely.

Spanish Interior Minister Juan Ignacio Zoido said he was worried that the 55-year old, who faces arrest the minute he steps back in Spain, could now try to discreetly return to the parliament in Barcelona for a vote on his candidacy.

“We’re making sure this cannot happen, at the borders and within the borders, everywhere,” Zoido told Antena 3 TV.

Spanish authorities were working day and night to prevent any attempt by him to return undetected, Zoido said.

“We’ll make sure he cannot get in, even (hidden) in the boot of a car,” he said.

Catalan lawmakers are set to vote on Puigdemont’s candidacy by Jan 31.

Puigdemont on Tuesday withdrew a request to be allowed to vote for himself by proxy, a source in his party said, without saying why he had dropped that demand or if it meant he planned to be in parliament in person for the leadership vote.

He was visiting Denmark on Tuesday, his first trip outside Belgium since he arrived there in October following his dismissal by the Madrid government and its imposition of direct rule on the semi-autonomous region.

Former Catalan leader Puigdemont says huge majority supports him as president.Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy called a new regional election in December in a bid to defuse the crisis but his gamble failed when separatist parties won a majority, giving new impetus to the independence movement.

Puigdemont, a former journalist, potentially faces decades in prison in Spain if he is convicted of the charges leveled against him, including rebellion and sedition.

Rajoy has said the Madrid government would appeal to the courts and maintain direct rule of Catalonia if Puigdemont was elected while abroad.

Source : Reuters