Carles Puigdemont, ex-Catalan leader, returns to Spain after nearly 7 years as a fugitive

Former Catalonia leader Carles Puigdemont returns to Spain despite an arrest warrant after nearly seven years as a fugitive

Former Catalonia leader Carles Puigdemont, who fled Spain after organizing an illegal independence referendum in the wealthy Spanish region nearly seven years ago, returned to the country on Thursday despite a pending arrest warrant.

Puigdemont defiantly appeared in Barcelona after traveling from Belgium and faces charges of embezzlement for his part in the attempt to break Catalonia away from the rest of Spain.

Puigdemont has dedicated his career to the goal of carving out a new country in northeast Spain — a struggle which is decades-old. His largely uncompromising approach has brought political conflict with other separatist parties as well as with Spain’s central government.