MADRID, Spain: Exiled former Catalan president Carles Puigdemont was arrested in Italy on Thursday (Friday in Manila), his lawyer and an aide said, four years after fleeing following an independence referendum that Madrid ruled unconstitutional. The European MEP was expected to appear in court on Friday at a hearing that could see him extradited to Spain to face sedition charges. The Catalan leader — who has been based in Belgium since the 2017 referendum — was detained in Alghero, Sardinia, his chief of staff, Josep Lluis Alay, wrote on Twitter. Puigdemont's lawyer, Gonzalo Boye, tweeted that the exiled separatist leader was arrested on his arrival in Italy, where he was travelling in his capacity as an MEP. He said the arrest was made on the basis of a warrant issued in October 2019 that had since been suspended. Puigdemont, 58, is wanted in Spain on allegations of sedition over his attempts to have the Catalan region break away from Madrid through the 2017 referendum.
