The question that is in the air, and that remains after almost nine years, is when Carles Puigdemont will return to Spain and whether he will be free or detained upon arrival. For years he was pursued across Europe to be handed over to the Supreme Court, where he had an open case for rebellion. But after almost a decade, things have changed.
Read more The Argentine lover
His government colleagues were convicted of sedition, then this crime disappeared from the Penal Code, they were pardoned by the Government and later an amnesty was achieved with the aim that the former president of the Generalitat and promoter of the procés could return without pending judicial cases. However, the legislative and executive powers clashed with the judiciary, which has tried to stop, as far as the law has allowed, its application.
One of the moves was to go to the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) to say whether the amnesty was contrary to European law. Yesterday the answer arrived, which was negative.
The CJEU endorses the amnesty law because it served for “reconciliation”
About thirty former high-ranking officials of the Generalitat and twelve CDR members will soon have to be amnestied
But the most immediate question is whether with this ruling, the Junts leader can return to Catalonia without risk of being arrested. The answer is also negative. There is a national arrest warrant against him agreed by the Supreme Court judge, Pablo Llarena, which means he can move freely but if he sets foot in Spain he will be arrested to face the case pending for a crime of embezzlement for organizing the October 1, 2017 referendum.
This crime, along with the rest linked to the procés, was amnestied but both Llarena and the Criminal Chamber of the Supreme Court ruled that the high-ranking officials of the Generalitat personally profited by using public money and therefore cannot be amnestied. The reason is that the law itself included an exception. Anyone who had personally enriched themselves with public money could not be amnestied. The legislator was not thinking of Puigdemont but the Supreme Court interpreted it that way.
The CJEU has not entered into assessing, because it was not its role, the interpretation and scope of the crime of embezzlement – it only referred to the effect on EU funds and there it raised no objection – so the arrest warrant against Puigdemont remains in force. Sources from the high court also point out that the European ruling does not affect this measure at all, so the former president will have to wait for the Constitutional Court.
After learning the Supreme Court’s interpretation not to apply the amnesty to him, Puigdemont filed an appeal for protection before the guarantees body that is expected to resolve it in October.
Read more Endorse reconciliation
The court presided over by Cándido Conde-Pumpido will have to decide whether to delve into the interpretation made by the Supreme Court on embezzlement and whether to order the application of the amnesty.
In that case, Puigdemont will be able to return as he wanted, without pending cases. In a similar situation is former vice president Oriol Junqueras. He was pardoned for the crime of sedition but his disqualification was maintained, which prevents him from holding public office. Until the Constitutional Court rules on his appeal against the Supreme Court’s decision not to apply the amnesty under the same premise as Puigdemont’s, he will not be able to fully return to active politics.
What will not be able to wait so long is the resolution of the Court of Auditors and the National Court, which suspended respective judicial processes to go to the CJEU. Once the European justice has clarified that the amnesty is compatible with community law, they will have to review the pending resolutions.
On the side of the auditing body, counselor Elena Hernáez halted the application of the amnesty just when she was about to issue a ruling in the accounting process against about thirty former Catalan high-ranking officials, who are being claimed to pay 3.1 million euros. Sources from the court explain that once the European ruling arrives, it will be analyzed and then the counselor will make the corresponding decision, not forgetting that August is a non-working month.
With the twelve members of the Committee for the Defense of the Republic accused of terrorism and pending trial, the National Court is in the same situation. Once the CJEU has said that the amnesty does not contravene the European directive on terrorism, the only option left now is to exonerate them, unless the court says and proves that they caused serious human rights violations.
Read more European justice endorses a reconciliation law that has divided politics
