Former Catalan Minister Ponsati to appear in court after arrest warrant withdrawn

A former Catalan politician who has been fighting extradition is to appear in court after an international arrest warrant for her was withdrawn.

Professor Clara Ponsati, a St Andrews University academic, was arrested in March after handing herself in to police in Scotland.

It came after she was made the subject of a European Arrest Warrant, with the authorities in Madrid seeking her on charges of violent rebellion and misappropriation of public funds over her role in Catalonia's controversial independence referendum in 2017.

A full extradition hearing lasting four weeks was set to get under way in Edinburgh at the end of this month.

However, on Thursday, a Spanish Supreme Court judge dropped the extradition request for the 61-year-old, an ex-Catalan education minister.

It came after a German court ruled last week that former regional president Carles Puigdemont could not be sent back to Spain for rebellion, only for embezzlement connected to the alleged misuse of public funds for a referendum on secession.

The academic - who has consistently denied the charges - is now expected to attend Edinburgh Sheriff Court on Monday for a hearing in the wake of the decision.