The courts have ruled: Carles Puigdemont is still subject to an arrest warrant. One month after the adoption of the amnesty law for Catalan independence supporters, the Spanish Supreme Court has refused to apply the measure to the leader exiled in Belgium. This arrest warrant has been running since Catalonia’s attempted secession in 2017.
Judge Pablo Llarena rendered “a judgment in which he declared the amnesty not applicable to the offense of embezzlement in the case targeting the former president of the Catalan Generalitat Carles Puigdemont”, indicated the highest judicial body in the country.
Thunderclap
The judgment of the Supreme Court has the effect of a thunderclap as the amnesty law was to primarily concern Carles Puigdemont, who hoped to be able to return quickly to Spain. It also constitutes a major setback for socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, at the origin of this controversial measure. The Spanish Parliament adopted this amnesty law for Catalan separatists on May 30, the price that Pedro Sánchez had to pay to be returned to power last November thanks to the support of the two Catalan separatist parties, who demanded this measure in return.
Targeted by an arrest warrant since the events of 2017, Mr. Puigdemont fled to Belgium, where he still lives, to escape the prosecution of the Spanish justice system, which resulted in several other separatist leaders being incarcerated. He was charged with the 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 considers in fact that there was a desire on the part of Mr. Puigdemont to obtain a 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 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.
Since the adoption of the amnesty law, the right-wing and far-right opposition has been up in arms against this law, according to it “unconstitutional”, and against which it has organized 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 prosecuted or convicted for offenses linked to Catalonia’s 2017 independence attempt or to the events that followed or preceded it, the task promises to be difficult for the courts, who must decide case by case.
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.