Carles Puigdemont: amnesty or a lifetime in exile

BarcelonaBacked by European justice, the amnesty has begun this week on the final stretch for all independence movement victims to leave judicial proceedings behind. To start, in the coming weeks, the twelve CDR members accused of terrorism and the thirty-five political leaders for whom the Prosecutor's Office is seeking 3 million euros from the Court of Auditors, should be the first to benefit from the rulings of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU). But at the pinnacle of the State's legal hierarchy, the Supreme Court is resisting accepting that the leaders of the Procés are exonerated from any responsibility, some without even having appeared before it.

The biggest quarry has always been Carles Puigdemont. Oriol Junqueras and most of the top figures of the Procés have already been tried and imprisoned, but the president of that government has managed to evade all extradition attempts that magistrate Pablo Llarena has made since he took over the investigation of the case. When the amnesty was approved, the Supreme Court innovated with an interpretation sui generis of the crime of embezzlement: indirect enrichment by promoting a referendum without the organizers paying for it out of their own pocket. Now, the Supreme Court is not taking the European ruling into account and will wait for the Constitutional Court to make the first move.

The statute of limitations for the crime

Puigdemont and his councillors Toni Comín and Lluís Puig have been in exile for nine years. The three of them have not been able to be convicted, but for almost a decade they have not been able to return home – except for Puigdemont's fleeting appearance in Barcelona two years ago. They are no longer sought for rebellion or sedition, but for aggravated embezzlement, a crime that prescribes after fifteen years. So, could they return to Catalonia without the risk of being arrested in six years if amnesty is not applied to them? No. Although the Penal Code is not clear enough, the doctrine of the Supreme Court itself details, for example, that in the event of an arrest warrant, the statute of limitations for the crime is suspended.

If he is not amnestied, Puigdemont risks spending his entire life in exile. Sources from his defense confirm that the statute of limitations has not yet begun, but, as Gonzalo Boye said this Saturday in an interview with the newspaper, they maintain that the Supreme Court or, failing that, the Constitutional Court, are obliged to comply with the law, and even more so after the resolution from Europe.

The week's details

Rodalies has stopped being the focus of political attention, but its service continues to be more or less equally precarious. Daily delays, incidents that force passengers to get off trains, heat due to overcrowding... This week on the R4, there was also a problem with the public address system. “Next stop, mind the gap between the train and the platform, connection with Zaragoza-Delicias”.

Junts celebrated this week the ECHR's endorsement of the amnesty law. On Thursday, Secretary General Jordi Turull had two main tasks: to hold a press conference to congratulate himself on the result and to immediately meet with Pere Sánchez. There seems to be better harmony with the leader of Coalició per Mallorca than with the Spanish president, and Turull himself recalled this in a humorous way.