HELSINKI: Catalonia’s former president Carles Puigdemont on Saturday appeared to have foiled attempts by Finnish police to arrest him under a European arrest warrant as an MP said he had already left the country. Puigdemont, who lives in self-imposed exile in Belgium, had been visiting Finland since Thursday for talks with lawmakers. Finland’s National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) confirmed earlier Saturday that it had received a European arrest warrant for “a Spanish citizen visiting Finland“, but did not know the person’s whereabouts. Puigdemont’s lawyer Jaume Alonso Cuevillas earlier told Catalunya Radio his client would not try to escape arrest. “When the European arrest warrant was issued (a first time), he made himself available to the Belgian justice and police, and he would do the same thing now.

Source: New Strait Times March 24, 2018 17:37 UTC