Three Catalonian police officers have been suspended for allegedly aiding the dramatic escape of Carles Puigdemont, the fugitive former Catalan president, following his surprise appearance at a Barcelona rally.
Puigdemont, the 61-year-old figurehead of Catalonia’s independence movement, defied an arrest warrant to address thousands of supporters on August 8 near the regional parliament.
Despite an intensive police manhunt and roadblocks across Spain’s second-largest city, the politician managed to vanish into thin air, only to resurface in Belgium the following day.
Authorities revealed on August 26 that three officers from Catalonia’s regional police force, the Mossos d’Esquadra, had been detained on suspicion of collusion, with one allegedly providing the getaway vehicle, AFP reported.
A police spokeswoman said the trio’s suspension was a “provisional measure” as the investigation unfolded.
This latest chapter in the Catalan saga came hot on the heels of Spain’s recent amnesty law, passed in May, designed to address the consequences of the 2017 independence referendum.
The Supreme Court ruled on July 1 that Puigdemont would not fully benefit from that legislation, leaving his legal status in limbo.
Puigdemont has spent the better part of seven years in self-imposed exile, primarily in Belgium.
