A month after the adoption of the amnesty law for Catalan independence supporters, the Spanish justice system ruled on Monday on the emblematic case of Carles Puigdemont, to whom it refuses to apply the measure, maintaining the arrest warrant targeting the leader exiled in Belgium.
Judge Pablo Llarena of the Supreme Court issued “a ruling in which he declares the amnesty not applicable to the crime of embezzlement in the case against the former president of the Catalan Generalitat Carles Puigdemont,” said the country’s highest judicial authority.
The arrest warrant targeting the president of the Catalan regional government since the attempted secession of Catalonia in 2017 therefore remains in force, the court specifies in its decision, which can be appealed within three days of notification to the parties.
The Supreme Court’s ruling comes as a bolt from the blue, as the amnesty law was intended to primarily affect Carles Puigdemont, who had hoped to return to Spain quickly. It also represents a major setback for Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, who initiated the controversial measure.
Targeted by an arrest warrant since the events of 2017, Mr. Puigdemont fled to Belgium, where he still lives, to escape prosecution by the Spanish justice system, which has led to the imprisonment of several other separatist leaders. He has been charged with crimes of embezzlement, disobedience and terrorism.
In his judgment, Judge Llarena considered that the amnesty did indeed apply to the offense of disobedience, but that on the other hand, “the behavior” accused of Mr. Puigdemont and two other separatists corresponded “fully to the two exceptions provided for the law” with regard to the offense of embezzlement.
The magistrate believes that Mr Puigdemont had a desire to obtain personal benefit and that his actions had an impact on the financial interests of the European Union, which makes the amnesty inapplicable in his eyes.
The offense of terrorism, with which Mr. Puigdemont is also accused in a separate case, is not addressed in this judgment.
– “Coup d’état of the togas” –
A few minutes after the Supreme Court’s announcement, Carles Puigdemont reacted on the social network “X” via a cryptic message (“La Toga nostra”) likening the judges and their robes to the Sicilian mafia Cosa Nostra.
“We are facing a coup d’état of togas,” said Jordi Turull, secretary general of his party, Junts per Catalunya, at a press conference, referring to a “clearly political decision”. By refusing amnesty for Mr. Puigdemont, “the judiciary is once again attacking the will of the legislator,” he denounced.
On May 30, the Spanish Parliament approved this amnesty law for Catalan independence supporters, a price that Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez had to pay to be returned to power in November thanks to the support of the two Catalan independence parties, which demanded this measure in return.
Since then, the right-wing and far-right opposition has been up in arms against this law, which it considers “unconstitutional”, and against which it has organised numerous demonstrations.
The objective of the legislators was that the courts would immediately begin to cancel the arrest warrants targeting the separatists who had fled abroad, and that these cancellations would remain valid pending the examination of the appeals filed against the law, which could take months or even years.
But with more than 400 people facing prosecution or conviction for crimes related to Catalonia’s 2017 independence bid or events leading up to or following it, the task is daunting for the courts, which must decide on a case-by-case basis.
The magistrates – many of whom do not hide their reluctance or even their frank opposition to this measure which has dominated and radicalized Spanish political life since the elections of July 2023 – had two months from its entry into force on June 11 to implement it.
Last week, two people, a former member of the Catalan regional government and a police officer, became the first beneficiaries of the law and were granted amnesty.
