Ponsatí appeals his prosecution "suddenly" for disobedience and asks Llarena to revoke the arrest warrant

It warns that in any case the crime of disobedience now charged would have prescribed

The former Catalan counselor and MEP of Junts Clara Ponsatí has ​​presented this Monday an appeal against the decision of the instructor of the 'procés', Pablo Llarena, to prosecute her for a crime of disobedience - due to the repeal of the sedition for which she was defendant--, arguing that it is a "coup" accusation, while urging him to withdraw the new search and arrest warrant issued against him to avoid an "illegal" arrest.

Ponsatí's defense, in a reform appeal to which Europa Press has had access, reproaches the Supreme Court (TS) magistrate for having issued "against a MEP who enjoys immunity, and without requesting its lifting, a national arrest warrant" for "a crime for which she was never prosecuted and which, if tried now, turns out to be time-barred".

"What's more, we cannot forget that we are dealing with crimes that are not homogeneous and, therefore, the undeniable fact of never having been prosecuted for the crime of disobedience now prevents, suddenly and without anesthesia, trying to impute to my client a new crime as it would be, for her, that of disobedience", alleges her lawyer.

Thus, he describes as "surprising" that Llarena has changed the prosecution of Ponsatí for sedition, a crime that was punishable by between 10 and 15 years in prison and disqualification, for one of disobedience, which is not punishable by jail but by a fine of 3 to 12 months and disqualification from 6 months to 2 years.

Regarding the prescription of the crime of disobedience, the defense refers simply to article 131.1 of the Penal Code (CP), according to which, since it does not carry a prison sentence or long periods of disqualification, it expires after five years.

"As it deals with the alleged breach of what was ordered by the Constitutional Court in September 2017, more than 5 years and 4 months ago, these are very simple accounts," he says.

However, it criticizes that "they go from a reformulation of an indictment to a national arrest warrant with the sole purpose of (...) taking a statement but without even having, before, requested the corresponding request, nor having attempted by any other less burdensome means the same objective".

For this reason, it urges Llarena to "order the State security forces and bodies without delay to rescind the national arrest warrant (...) in order to prevent the illegal detention from taking place", as well as " notify the European Parliament that the interested request is withdrawn" in 2020.

"POLITICAL ACTS"

In any case, the defense affirms that "he has not committed any crime because the facts that are the subject of this procedure are not criminal in nature but simply political acts unduly criminalized."

And it advances that, "if necessary, because the magistrate-instructor does not assume reality", Ponsatí "endorses for the purposes of this appeal the allegations that will be presented at the appropriate time" by the former Catalan president Puigdemont and the also former counselor Toni Comín .

Those accused of the 'procés' who are outside Spain, such as Ponsatí, have three days to appeal the order issued by Llarena last Thursday to adapt the prosecution of those who fled from 1-O to the penal reform that has eliminated the sedition and modified embezzlement, and which entered into force that same day.

The former counselor advanced last Friday on Catalunya Rádio that she plans to return to Catalonia "as soon as possible" but that she will not appear before the Supreme Court because she does not recognize its jurisdiction, indicating that she does not know if she will be arrested for it.

"Democratic guarantees in the State are never available. In my case, I have immunity and they should not arrest me. But we do not have 100% guarantees," said the Junts MEP.