The Constitutional Court will deliberate on September 22 for the first time on the pending appeals for protection due to the Supreme Court’s refusal to apply the Amnesty law to the leaders of the ‘procés’ who were convicted of embezzlement.
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Specifically, the guarantees body will review the written submission of the secretary general of Junts, Jordi Turull, and in the following plenary sessions, the appeals of the other political leaders to whom the amnesty still does not apply will be addressed, such as former president Carles Puigdemont or the president of Esquerra, Oriol Junqueras.
The president of the Constitutional Court, Cándido Conde Pumpido, informed the other magistrates this Tuesday during the plenary session that the pending appeals will be resolved in the coming months following last week’s ruling by the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) that endorsed the criminal oblivion.
The rapporteur of the ruling will be the conservative magistrate José María Macías, so it is assumed that the ruling will not be released in the plenary session held that week, since new rapporteurs will have to be appointed if his proposal does not gather a majority.
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Puigdemont’s lawyer, Gonzalo Boye, had argued in the previous days that the Constitutional Court could have already resolved the appeals without waiting for the European justice ruling. Furthermore, he had emphasized that given the impact on the rights of each appellant, the appeals of Puigdemont and former ministers Lluís Puig and Toni Comín should be resolved first, as there is an arrest warrant against them that prevents them from freely setting foot in Spain.
On the other hand, the other appellants are only affected by the penalty of disqualification. This is the case of Turull and Junqueras, but also of former ministers Raül Romeva and Dolors Bassa.
This Monday, the Court of Auditors decided not to apply the amnesty for the moment to the former senior officials of the Government who are being prosecuted for the accounting responsibility of October 1 and the Generalitat’s external action. The oversight body gave the parties ten days to submit allegations and provide documentation proving the origin of the funds destined for the procés.
