The St Andrews professor fighting extradition to Spain for her role in Catalonia’s independence bid has appeared in court in Edinburgh.
Clara Ponsati, the former Catalan minister, faces charges of rebellion and misappropriation of public funds in Spain.
She is expected to learn her fate following a two-week hearing in Edinburgh Sheriff Court starting on July 30.
Another preliminary hearing is set for May 15 at the same court.
Speaking after Thursday’s procedural court appearance, her lawyer Aamer Anwar said his client “utterly refutes the charges”.
“Clara is an esteemed university professor has never committed a criminal act in her life, but if extradited she faces up to 33 years for peacefully promoting a referendum,” he said outside the court.
“At today’s hearing we advised the court that we intend to fight the extradition on many grounds including fundamentally that the Spanish are guilty of an abuse of process.”
Mr Anwar described the 19-page warrant as a “grotesque distortion of the truth”.
Spanish judges re-issued the European arrest warrant last month for Prof Ponsati and other former Catalonian ministers, following the unsanctioned referendum in Catalonia and the regional government’s declaration of independence.
During Thursday’s short court hearing, Gordon Jackson QC, for Prof Ponsati, told Sheriff Nigel Ross that he intended to challenge the case on grounds including the validly of the warrant, the lack of a relevant offences in Scotland and his client’s human rights.
He said: “The fundamental position which is taken here is the abuse of process.
“This is wrapping up in legalistic form something which is purely a political decision.
“It is an attempt to squeeze it into some legal formulae and we intend to show that’s exactly what is happening here.”
A large crowd of pro Catalan independence supporters gathered outside court to support Ponsati.
A letter signed by dozens of Spanish academics based in the UK and abroad say their country’s judges are acting independently from the government in accordance with the rule of law, and in response to an illegal referendum.
In the letter, the academics “demand that Spanish authorities and its citizens are shown the respect that they are due”.
