In Spain, amnesty for Catalan independence activists is law
Former Catalan president Carles Puigdemont will be able to return to Spain after exile in Belgium, Germany and Italy
ROME – The law that will guarantee amnesty for all administrative and fiscal crimes committed by Catalan independence activists between 1 November 2011 and 13 November 2023 passed the Spanish Congress by just five votes , therefore also for the crimes contested in the so-called ‘procès’, i.e. the Catalan secessionist trial. Opened in 2019, several independence leaders were convicted of “sedition” for having organized the referendum for the independence of Catalonia in 2017, and for having then unilaterally proclaimed independence from Madrid.
“IN POLITICS AS IN LIFE FORGIVENESS IS MORE POWERFUL THAN RANGER”
Approved with 177 votes against 172 no, the “Law for institutional, political and social normalization in Catalonia” is the result of an agreement between the socialists of the PSOE, currently in government, with the independentist parties of Junts (‘United for Catalonia’) and ERC (‘Republican Left of Catalonia’). A political success for Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, who announced this objective as soon as he came to power: “In politics, as in life, forgiveness is more powerful than resentment” he wrote in a post on X, at the end of today’s vote. The amnesty law nullifies the sentences of various independence leaders convicted in 2019including Oriol Junqueras and Jordi Turull, general secretaries of the ERC and Junts respectively, and the former president of Parliament Carme Forcadell .
THE PUIGDEMONT CASE
But what makes the most noise is the possibility forthe former president of Catalonia Carles Puigdemont to be able to return to Spain: in 2017 he left the country to escape trial for sedition. First he fled to Belgium, and then to Germany and Italy to escape the European arrest warrant. Meanwhile elected to the European Parliament, he regained parliamentary immunity in 2022 and has remained outside the Spanish borders in self-exile since then. However, the right-wing movements PP, Vox and UPN are against the law on amnesty for Catalan independence activists. “It’s not a good day for democracy”, commented Alberto Nunez Feijoo, leader of the Popolate Party (PP), who announced appeals for unconstitutionality against the new law by the autonomous regions led by pp.