A decision on whether an academic will be extradited to Spain will not be made until the European Parliament has ruled on whether she should remain immune from prosecution, a court has heard.
Clara Ponsati faces a charge of sedition over her role in Catalonia’s unsanctioned independence referendum in 2017.
But Edinburgh Sheriff Court heard on Thursday that the former Catalan minister now has immunity from prosecution in Spain because she recently became an MEP.
READ MORE: Catalan academic to appear in court in extradition fight
Ms Ponsati’s lawyer Gordon Jackson QC told the court the Spanish Government has applied to the European Parliament asking it to waive her immunity so she can be prosecuted.
The court had been expected to centre on the competency of the extradition warrant and issues surrounding dual criminality, which relate to whether the law is an offence in both countries.
But Mr Jackson told the court there was no point discussing matters further until the immunity issue is settled, describing the current situation as a “stalemate”.
He said: “Ms Ponsati is now a member of the European Parliament, that means she has immunity.
“She has immunity from prosecution in Spain and Spain do not dispute that.
“Spain has applied to the European Parliament for waiver of the immunity.
“We’ve agreed that it would make absolutely no sense whatsoever to keep going with this till that immunity issue is sorted.
“We seem to be in a kind of stalemate till that gets sorted.”
Ms Ponsati, a University of St Andrews academic, became an MEP after five seats in the European Parliament were given to Spain when the UK left the EU in January.
Solicitor Advocate John Scott QC, for the Crown, said Spain applied for the waiver in February and it may be around four months before a decision is made.
READ MORE: Brexit to make former Catalan minister 'immune from extradition'
Sheriff Nigel Ross agreed a full hearing scheduled for May will now no longer take place and the matter will be continued until June 18.
He said: “Nothing will happen today and we will await the outcome of Spain’s application to the European Parliament.”
Ms Ponsati could be sentenced to 15 years behind bars if convicted, with nine other Catalan officials given jail sentences of between nine and 13 years for the same offence in autumn last year.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel