Leading Catalan separatist becomes sixth to flee Spain after independence push

A leading Catalan separatist has fled to Switzerland to avoid a court appearance in Spain, where she stands accused of rebellion over October’s independence push. 

Anna Gabriel, of the far Left CUP, was due to be questioned in the Spanish Supreme Court on Wednesday over the banned October 1 referendum and subsequent declaration of independence. But instead she became the sixth secessionist leader to abandon Spain, announcing that she was seeking exile in Geneva to escape “political persecution” at home.

Announcing her decision through the Swiss media, Ms Gabriel said she would not get a “fair judgment” in Spain, so had sought a country which would “protect her rights”. 

The former parliamentarian, who could face up to 30 years in prison and who travelled to Switzerland at the weekend, said if Spain tried to extradite her she would request political asylum.

Ms Gabriel told the Swiss newspaper Le Temps that she was being targeted for her political activity by authorities who “want to silence independence through repression” and had “already been condemned by the government press”.

The anti-capitalist CUP, which has pushed hard for unilateral secession, has a small parliamentary presence but its support is crucial to the pro-independence bloc. 

The move opens up a further international dimension in the Catalan crisis, which independence leaders have been increasingly trying to push on to the world stage amid a political impasse at home.

Some 28 Catalan politicians, officials and activists are now under investigation for alleged crimes of sedition and rebellion over the secessionist drive. Ms Gabriel described the crackdown as a “witch hunt”, likening it Turkey’s post-coup purges - in which tens of thousands have been arrested.  

Ben Emmerson QC, the British human rights lawyer, is now representing three of the four men who have been in preventative prison since November and is taking their case to the United Nations.

Mr Emmerson argues that the crimes of sedition and rebellion are inapplicable because of “the absence of violence in their conduct”. 

Mr Puigdemont and four former cabinet members remain in Belgium where they fled after Madrid imposed direct rule and dissolved the Catalan government following its declaration of independence in late October. But Spain dropped European Arrest Warrants for the politicians in December, apparently amid fears that Belgian justice would strike out the rebellion charge.

Catalan politics remain in deadlock as independence parties attempt to return Mr Puigdemont to power through a long distance inauguration, despite a Constitutional Court ruling against it. On Tuesday, the Catalan parliament’s speaker’s committee met to debate a legal reform to allow the remote investiture, but postponed a decision amid reports of tensions.