The Barcelona Court amnesties Marta Rovira for the organization of 1-O

BarcelonaAmnesty for Marta Rovira. The Barcelona Court has applied the law to the former secretary general of ERC, who still had an open case for disobedience following the October 1st referendum, according to the court resolution to which ARA has had access. This is the case that the Supreme Court opened against her in 2018 and which led her to go into exile in Switzerland. At that time, the high court accused her of a crime of rebellion, which changed to sedition as of 2019 and, after the reform of the Penal Code, was reduced to a crime of disobedience. In May of this year, the Supreme Court decided that it was not competent to resolve this case and passed it on to the Barcelona Court, which this Tuesday closed it by applying the amnesty law.

In its resolution, the court argues that the case affecting Rovira is included within the precepts of the amnesty law, specifically within article 1, which covers "acts of disobedience" related to the October 1st referendum. In this sense, the Court recalls that the amnesty law established that courts had to apply the rule in a "preferential and urgent" manner. "The present case is in an intermediate phase and, consequently, there is no reason not to apply it at this time. Delaying the analysis of the application of the law until the moment of the oral trial contradicts the literal tenor of the law," the court states.

Apart from the case related to the October 1st referendum, the National Court also opened a parallel one to investigate the organization and actions of Tsunami Democràtic and prosecuted Marta Rovira. In July 2024, however, the high court archived the case and the former ERC leader returned to Catalonia for the first time. In Cantallops (Alt Empordà), a welcome was organized for Rovira and the rest of those until then under investigation. At that time, Rovira had already announced that she wanted to step aside from her responsibilities at the head of ERC after the party lost the elections in May two years ago and was left without the presidency of the Generalitat. It was then that the republicans plunged into a deep internal war that ended with the political divorce of Rovira and Oriol Junqueras.

ERC celebrates the decision

"After the overwhelming ruling of the CJEU, it was already inevitable that the courts that kept several cases open would do what they should have done from the first day: apply the amnesty law approved in the Congress of Deputies", celebrated ERC in a statement, where it also asks that the rule be applied to the rest of the cases that are still open. The president of the party, Oriol Junqueras, also celebrated the Audiencia's decision in a tweet on X. "Today we finally celebrate the amnesty for Marta Rovira in the 1-O referendum case. A journey of political persecution during six years of exile thus comes to an end", wrote Junqueras.