Police in Barcelona, Spain failed to arrest Catalonia’s former leader Carles Puigdemont on Thursday after Puigdemont appeared before a crowd at a separatist rally to deliver a speech.

Puigdemont marched toward the Catalonian Parliament while surrounded by his supporters and vanished after the speech. It is unknown how he entered Spain or vanished after the speech. A police officer who was allegedly involved in his escape was arrested.

Puigdemont has been under a Spanish arrest warrant since his 2017 independence referendum was declared illegal by the Spanish government, although it seemed to be supported by the Catalan region. The referendum has faced criticism, with former member of the European Parliament Íñigo Méndez de Vigo highlighting that the referendum violates Spanish law, European law and international order.

Previously on July 1, Spain’s Tribunal Supremo upheld arrest warrants for Puigdemont and other Catalan separatists, ruling that a recent amnesty law does not relieve them of their penal responsibility. The politicians, currently living in exile, are facing charges connected to the organization of the 2017 Catalan independence referendum, which was deemed unconstitutional by the Spanish constitutional court. Puigdemont, who lives in self-imposed exile in France, responded to the ruling on X (formerly Twitter) by calling the tribunal “la toga nostra,” criticizing the institution as corrupt and biased.

On April 8, Spain’s Supreme Court summoned Puigdemont to provide voluntary statements in a terrorism investigation of protests related to the failed 2017 independence referendum. The court issued a European Investigation Order and/or an International Rogatory Commission in criminal matters through Eurojust to ascertain their whereabouts. A letter published by the European Civic Forum, backed by Amnesty International and 20 other human rights organizations, denounced the indictment, emphasizing that the charges of terrorism against Catalan activists and the resulting restrictions are in violation of Spain’s obligations to uphold international human rights standards and European Union Law.