Llarena delays the archiving of the case against Puigdemont but sees the amnesty as inevitable

BarcelonaJudge Pablo Llarena sees the amnesty for Carles Puigdemont as inevitable, but, for the moment, he is resisting facilitating it. This week it was expected that the Supreme Court magistrate would propose to the criminal chamber to archive the case against the former president of the Generalitat and the former ministers Toni Comín and Lluís Puig, a step prior to their amnesty. But this Monday he has limited himself to confirming the lifting of the arrest warrant against them, issued after the Constitutional Court (TC) endorsed the amnesty in cases of embezzlement.

"This pronouncement is limited to the lifting of the orders. It does not entail the conclusion of a summary pending certain appeals, nor does it replace a definitive resolution regarding the extinction of responsibility and the dismissal that corresponds to be adopted by the competent body," the judge remarks in his interlocutory order. In the resolution, the instructor does not refrain from disagreeing with the TC's ruling, although he admits that "it must be applied".

Until Llarena makes a move, after resolving the aforementioned appeals, the chamber in charge of the Procés trial, presided over by Manuel Marchena, will not be able to archive the case against the three exiles and, therefore, proceed to their definitive amnesty. It can do so with the four former members of the Government convicted of embezzlement, Oriol Junqueras, Jordi Turull, Dolors Bassa, and Raül Romeva. Their forecast, as ARA has been able to learn, is to grant them amnesty this Tuesday.

Regardless of the delay in Puigdemont's amnesty, this would not lead to his immediate return. The former president's circle is inclined for the former president not to return to Catalonia until after the 29-N elections, and his lawyer, Gonzalo Boye, was clear in this regard last week: "He will not return in the middle of the electoral campaign, which is what the PSOE would want," he said.