Spain’s highest court, the Supreme Court, has refused to grant amnesty to independence activist Carles Puigdemont, who has been in exile since Catalonia’s failed secession attempt in 2017, and has upheld the arrest warrant against him.
“The judge of the Supreme Court has rendered [lundi 1er juillet] an order in which he declares the amnesty not applicable to the crime of embezzlement in the case against the former president of the Generalitat Carles Puigdemont”the court detailed in a statement. This decision can be appealed within three days of notification to the parties, the document specifies.
On May 30, the Spanish Parliament passed an amnesty law for Catalan separatists – the price paid by the socialist prime minister, Pedro Sanchez, to be returned to power in November 2023 thanks to the support of the two Catalan separatist parties.
Read also | Spain definitively adopts amnesty law for Catalan separatists
Add to your selections
More than four hundred people prosecuted or convicted
The law was signed into law on June 11. The lawmakers’ goal was for the courts to begin canceling arrest warrants for separatists who fled abroad without delay, and for those cancellations to remain in effect pending the review of appeals filed against the law, a process that can take months or even years.
More than four hundred people are being prosecuted or convicted of crimes related to Catalonia’s 2017 independence bid: the task is likely to be difficult for the courts, which must decide on a case-by-case basis.
The law was intended to allow the return of exiled separatists, including Mr Puigdemont, president of the Catalan regional government during the events of 2017. Charged with embezzlement, disobedience and terrorism, Mr Puigdemont hoped to be able to return to Spain quickly after the law was promulgated.
The Supreme Court ruled that the amnesty law did apply to the crime of disobedience, but that ” behaviors “ accused of Mr. Puigdemont and two other separatists “fully correspond to the two exceptions provided for by law” with regard to the offence of embezzlement.
Concretely, the magistrate concluded that there was a desire on the part of Mr. Puigdemont to obtain a personal benefit, as well as an impact on the financial interests of the European Union, which makes the amnesty inapplicable to their eyes. Therefore, the arrest warrant “is maintained only for the offense of embezzlement, not for that of disobedience”, according to the document. The offense of terrorism with which Mr. Puigdemont is also accused in a separate case is not addressed in this judgment.
