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Swiss-based Catalan leader returns to Spain to face trial

Gabriel
She has been residing in Geneva since 2018. © Keystone / Salvatore Di Nolfi

Anna Gabriel, the former Catalan parliamentarian and pro-independence leader, has returned to Spain voluntarily to appear before the Supreme Court. 

Gabriel, who has been living in Switzerland since 2018, is accused of disobedience by the Spanish justice system. The Supreme Court let her go free on bail, pending a summons to appear. A member of the far left Popular Unity Candidacy (Candidatura d’Unitat Popular) party, she is presumed to be a participant in the secessionist attempt led by the Catalan authorities. According to the daily La Vanguardia, Gabriel’s sojourn in Spain is temporary and she will remain a Swiss resident.

Following the referendum for independence of Catalonia in 2017, Gabriel and other leaders, including Carles Puigdemont, were accused of fomenting rebellion. Gabriel faced up to 30 years in prison and took refuge in Geneva, where she worked for the trade union Unia. A Spanish judge later reduced the charge to disobedience.

Like other Catalan separatists, her mobile phone was allegedly tapped by the Spanish authorities via the Pegasus spyware between 2017 and 2020, according to an investigation by the British Guardian newspaper.

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