Supreme Court judge Pablo Llarena has rejected former president Carles Puigdemont’s request to apply amnesty after the European justice ruling that endorsed the law of oblivion, and therefore also rejects lifting the national arrest warrant against the Junts leader.
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The instructor of the procés case has dismissed the former president’s request regarding the facts provisionally classified as embezzlement, as a consequence of the ruling of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) on July 16. Since this request did not succeed, the judge also rejects lifting the national arrest warrant against him.
However, the Constitutional Court will soon review the appeals for protection filed by several pro-independence leaders against the Supreme Court’s interpretation of embezzlement.
According to Llarena and the Criminal Chamber of the high court, none of the procés leaders can benefit from amnesty because they personally profited from organizing the October 1, 2017 referendum and are therefore within the exception of the law.
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The judge dismisses similar requests made by former minister Antoni Comin. The magistrate explains that, after the Amnesty Law came into force, he issued an order on July 1, 2024, denying its application to embezzlement because it was considered excluded for two reasons: the recognition of an intent to obtain a personal financial benefit and the consideration that the facts affected the financial interests of the European Union.
In the order issued now, the magistrate highlights that the CJEU ruling prevents maintaining the second reason to exclude the application of amnesty, since it has ruled out an impact on the EU’s financial interests derived from the secession of part of the national territory. However, it does not modify the autonomous basis, constituting the first reason cited to exclude the application of amnesty, related to the intent to obtain a personal financial benefit.
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The order emphasizes that the dismissal of the new amnesty request of both defendants is not based on the European interpretation lacking relevance, but on the fact that its effect does not extend to the other reason that supported its denial.
It also stresses that the rulings issued to date by the Constitutional Court on the constitutionality of the Amnesty Law have not resolved the individual application discussed here. Thus, the order indicates, they have not annulled the interpretation of personal benefit made in this case, although they do not constitute a specific validation of that interpretation, and the outcome of the pending appeals for protection cannot be anticipated.
Llarena also rejects requests for recusal in favor of the High Court of Justice of Catalonia or the courts of Barcelona, and for dismissal of the case due to a violation of the ‘non bis in idem’ principle (double punitive prosecution of the same facts) because of the existence of an accounting procedure before the Court of Auditors.
Regarding the request to lift the national arrest warrant for the two defendants, the judge explains that it is made as a consequence of dismissal, double prosecution, or application of amnesty, and since these requests do not succeed, lifting the measure for such reasons is also not appropriate.
The order adds that “it does not declare the measures unreviewable nor does it turn the lack of amnesty into sufficient justification for any precautionary restriction. It merely rejects the lifting for the reasons now stated, without excluding the examination that may be appropriate under other specific circumstances.”
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