A Spanish politician suspected of terrorism is hiding in Switzerland

37-year-old Ruben Faginsberg, a member of the left-wing Catalan separatist party ERC, was nowhere to be seen after the Christmas holiday. People who tried to reach him received no response. This morning, he himself called Catalonia's most listened to radio station, RAC1, and said he was in Geneva to “protect himself from the attacks of the Spanish legal system.”

Fear of returning

Wagensburg said on the radio that he did not dare to return. “I panic as soon as I think about returning to Catalonia. It should not be necessary because in a constitutional state there are rules.” But he says these things are not followed in his case.

After three and a half years of investigation, Spanish prosecutors believe they have enough evidence to appoint Wagensberg as the leader of the week-long intense protests in Catalonia in October 2019. That week, Barcelona's airport was closed, among other things. Air traffic had to be stopped, hundreds of flights were cancelled, and a 64-year-old French traveler died in the crowds.

Cover name: Conan

Wagensberg never emerged as the leader of the action. The violent protests are said to have arisen spontaneously, because angry Catalans met each other on the Telegram app and decided to meet in certain places to protest. According to the Spanish Public Prosecution, there was a leader named Wagensberg. No one knew it was him, and he allegedly performed surgery on Telegram under the pseudonym Conan.

In the days following the airport siege, grim daily protests erupted in the streets, with hundreds injured. Protesters also blocked the railway line near Girona and temporarily prevented train movement by setting fires.

The reason for all these measures was the ruling in the case against Catalan political leaders who organized an independence referendum in 2017, while the government in Madrid had banned it. Nine of them were sentenced to prison terms of up to thirteen years on charges of sedition and misuse of public funds.

Severe anxiety attacks

Wagensberg made his voice heard this morning for the first time in weeks. On radio station RAC1 he explained why he kept everyone guessing about where he was and how he was doing. He says that he suffers from severe anxiety attacks that prevent him from working and leading a normal life at home. According to Wagensberg, the blame for this lies with the judicial system. He described the investigation against him as a “form of repression” by the Spanish state.

However, Robin Wagensberg is not alone in Switzerland. He says he is accompanied by his colleague, party member Marta Rovira. She fled to Switzerland in 2017 because she was one of the politicians charged with organizing the independence referendum. She has not left Switzerland for more than six years.

He's not the only suspect

Faginsberg says he now uses the same legal team that represents Rovira. This team also has to work for Rovira again, because he is also suspected of leading the operations in October 2019, even remotely, from Switzerland.