'It was survival' says activist wanted by Spain on leaving country

Adrià Carrasco, accused of terrorism and rebellion, says he does not recognize the Spanish justice system in interview with Catalan News Agency

Adrià Carrasco, pro-independence activist accused of terrorism, speaking in Brussels on Saturday (Natàlia Segura)
Adrià Carrasco, pro-independence activist accused of terrorism, speaking in Brussels on Saturday (Natàlia Segura) / ACN

ACN | Brussels

September 8, 2018 10:23 AM

"It was a moment of survival instinct. I grabbed some trainers and trousers, the first I found, and left," exiled activist Adrià Carrasco explained in an interview with the Catalan News Agency (ACN) on Saturday.

The 25-year-old member of the pro-independence protest group CDR is wanted in Spain, accused of terrorism and rebellion for taking part in demonstrations, some of which saw major roads in Catalonia cut off.

"I knew they were coming for me," he told ACN in Brussels, where he now resides having fled Catalonia. In April, Spanish police searched for him at his home to take him to the Spanish National Court in Madrid. They did not find him, he had already disappeared.  

"I did not want to let myself be submitted, it is a justice [the Spanish] that I do not recognize, and in this regard the option was to leave and not let myself be judged by a justice that is not mine," he explained. The Spanish justice system, he said, is "politicized"

Refuge in Brussels

He had followed suit of Catalan pro-independence officials and rapper Valtònyc, all wanted by the Spanish judiciary, and headed to the Belgian capital.

There are currently seven Catalan politicians living in exile, including former president Carles Puigdemont. Mallorcan Hip Hop artist Valtònyc also fled to Belgium. He has been sentenced to three and a half years in prison in Spain for glorification of terrorism, slander, threats, and defamation against the crown in some of his song lyrics.

Political consequence

"Many politicians have been implicated a lot so far and that is why they are exiled here, like me, and that's why we must continue, but, there must be a political consequence," Carrasco said.

The CDR activist believes that Catalan independence should be declared on October 2 "without hesitation."  

"We cannot stop protesting in the street, we cannot submit to fear," he said, referring to the pro-independence movement.

Although he may have evaded the Spanish justice system for now, the young activist admits that exile is "hard" because he had to leave behind friends and family. Carrasco, however, saw no other choice.

"I knew they were coming for me"

He recalled the day when Spain's Guardia Civil came to his home. "I was sleeping, then I saw they were coming for me," he said. "In that moment there was no time to think, it was an instinctive reaction." Upon awakening, Carrasco had enough time to get out of his house and dodge the military police agents.

Although, he explains, at that time he had no evidence of other arrests, he said he knew that if the Guardia Civil had come to his house to look for him, "the accusation would be terrorism."

"Usually they send you an order to go and testify," he said. "I saw that here [in Catalonia] I was not safe, and had to leave." Carrasco made his whereabouts known on Thursday, but has not specified when exactly he arrived in Belgium.

He now shares the same team of lawyers defending the Catalan politicians abroad and Valtònyc, who have so far successfully managed to avoid Puigdemont and his ministers' extradition back to Spain.

Speaking at a press conference on Thursday, Carrasco said that  he believes these cases are being carried out to make an example of them.

"We are being used as scapegoats to scare people," Carrasco spoke to the press from Brussels, where he has been living "in exile" since Spanish police tried to arrest him.

"In Spain, there are no guarantees of a fair trial," he said, justifying exile as a way to "keep fighting against the indiscriminate repression in Spain."