The Spanish Supreme Court prevented former Catalan president Carles Puigdemont from returning to Spain by refusing to apply an amnesty law.
The court declined to apply the controversial law, which cancelled pending lawsuits against Catalans for alleged separatist activities, against Puigdemont and two former regional ministers.
That means that Puigdemont, leader of the JxCat party, will not be able to return to Spain for now, despite the amnesty law that came into force on 11 June, as the judge upheld the national arrest warrant against him. Shortly afterwards, Puigdemont reacted on X, accusing the judge of acting like the Italian mafia in refusing to apply the new law to him. In his post on X, he referred to the Sicilian Mafia.
La Toga [a judge’s robe] Nostra.
The Supreme Court also ruled on Monday that it would not grant amnesty to pro-independence leaders sentenced to political disqualification for illegal acts committed between 2011 and 2023. This is the period covered by the controversial law.
Among the separatist leaders sentenced to political disqualification is the former vice-president of the Catalan regional government, Oriol Junqueras. The judge ruled that the offence of embezzlement of public funds for which he was convicted could not be pardoned.
The law pardoning the Catalan separatists aimed to advance the country and resolve the most serious constitutional crisis Spain faced since the restoration of democracy in the 1970s.
Diversion of public funds
The court found that pro-independence leaders, including Puigdemont, diverted public funds in their favour by “approving” the referendum costs of the Catalan public administration.
The body referred to an article of law prohibiting amnesty for embezzlement in cases where the “purpose” was “to obtain a personal benefit” and where those involved “did with the assets of others entrusted to them what they could not or did not want to do with their own assets.”
Although the decision can still be appealed, the Supreme Court’s ruling could affect the stability of Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s coalition government with the Sumar platform. The ruling could also impact the formation of a new government in Catalonia following early elections in May.
