Clara Ponsatí’s lawyer says she will fight attempt to return her to Spain to face rebellion charge

Clara Ponsatí, the Catalan academic facing extradition from Scotland to Spain for alleged sedition, has been granted bail by a court in Edinburgh pending a full hearing later this spring. Lawyers for Ponsati, a professor at the University of St Andrews, said they will "robustly" reject charges of violent rebellion and misappropriation of public funds for helping to organise last year's independence referendum in Catalonia, which the government in Madrid deemed illegal. EDINBURGH (AFP) - Former Catalan minister Clara Ponsati, who is wanted by Spain for her role in last year's independence bid, surrendered to Scottish police on Wednesday (March 28) to face arrest under a European warrant. Ponsatí appeared in the dock at the city’s sheriff court flanked by custody officers after she was formally arrested at a police station in Edinburgh on Wednesday and served with a European arrest warrant issued by judges in Madrid. Speaking alongside Postaní after her release on bail, her solicitor, Aamer Anwar, said she faced 25 years in jail for sedition and up to eight years for misusing public funds. She has thanked First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, the Scottish government and other Scottish politicians for their "solidarity", with Mr Anwar saying Prof Ponsati believes "Scotland has been a true friend to Catalonia in her darkest hours". Scotland has been a true friend to Catalonia in her darkest hours.”

Prof Ponsati returned to Scotland earlier in March having been in Belgium since fleeing Spain with Catalonia’s ex-leader Carles Puigdemont and three other former cabinet members, following an unsuccessful bid to declare independence from Spain in October. Image copyright Reuters Image caption She fled to Brussels with Carles Puigdemont following the Catalan referendum

Prof Ponsati had been working as the director of the School of Economics and Finance at the University of St Andrews since January 2016, before being appointed as the Catalan government's education minister in July of last year. A Spanish judge issued international arrest warrants on Friday for Ponsati and other fugitive politicians including Catalonia's ex-leader Carles Puigdemont, now detained by German police.
Clara Ponsatí i Obiols, fugitive ex-Minister of Education of Catalonia, hands herself over to Police Scotland. She appears before court and is released on bail.