Fugitive ex-Catalan leader said to be in Belgium as Spanish police try to explain how he escaped

BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — The lawyer for Carles Puigdemont says the former Catalan leader is back in Belgium after evading arrest in Spain for the second time in seven years. Puigdemont made a much-anticipated return to Spain this week despite a pending arrest warrant against him for his role in a 2017 independence referendum deemed illegal by Spanish courts. But he escaped by car shortly after speaking to hundreds of supporters in central Barcelona under the eyes of almost as many journalists and police officers who had intended to arrest him after the speech. Catalonia’s regional police have launched an investigation into the failure of police to catch Puigdemont.