For almost a decade, the return of Puigdemont has marked Catalan and Spanish politics, but now the moment of truth has arrived. It seems clear that the Constitutional Court will grant protection to the leadership of the 'Procés' –this Tuesday it already took the first step– and that the Supreme Court will withdraw the arrest warrant for the former president. This is confirmed by both TC sources and Supreme Court sources, and Puigdemont's entourage also gives credit to this path. They say, they say... that the former president is now indeed returning. The scheduled calendar is as follows: this Tuesday, September 22, there was an initial debate at the Constitutional Court in which a majority of magistrates positioned themselves in favor of the amnesty for Jordi Turull and against the proposal by the conservative rapporteur José María Macías to reject it. As a result of this, the report will move to the next plenary session, which will be on October 6, where it is expected that President Conde-Pumpido will present a proposal favorable to the amnesty of Dolors Bassa, that it be approved by a majority, and that it also have effects for Puigdemont. In other words, it would be at this moment that the Constitutional Court would firmly endorse for the first time the amnesty for the crime of embezzlement related to the 1-O and would open the door to his return.If everything goes according to plan, when this TC ruling is published, which may be a few days after the decision of October 6th or 7th, Llarena will be bound by it and could proceed, even on his own initiative, without notifying the parties, to withdraw the arrest warrant for the former president, Toni Comín, and Lluís Puig. This would imply that Puigdemont would no longer be in the state security forces' alert system and could already circulate freely within the Spanish state without being arrested.However, at this point his case would not yet be completely archived: at the same moment Llarena would have to dictate the conclusion of the summary and send it to the Supreme Court chamber, which after asking for the opinion of the parties (they usually have about five working days to do so), would decide whether to close the case definitively also by virtue of the endorsement of the appeal for protection to the Constitutional Court. When exactly would Puigdemont return? He does not want to advance anything and everything will depend on the content of the resolutions, but he could choose up to three moments to return: once the TC has decided; waiting for the withdrawal of Llarena's arrest warrant, or once the case has been definitively archived. From his environment, however, they prescribe prudence and remember that whenever it is, we are talking about October, November or at the latest December – provided everything goes as planned.The implications of the return

The fact that Puigdemont is returning to Catalonia opens a new phase both in the Principality and in Spain.

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Supreme Court magistrate Pablo Llarena now refuses to amnesty Carles Puigdemont until the Constitutional Court orders him to do so, because he finds that the —devastating— ruling of the Court of Justice of the European Union must not have enough consistency for a patriotic judge like him. Clad as Don Tancredo, Llarena digs in his heels and says that the CJEU ruling does not serve as a legal basis to amnesty Puigdemont, given that he considers the Supreme Court's interpretation of embezzlement has not been reviewed. The answer comes by itself: then let them review it. Above all, because the idea of “embezzlement” that was wielded to convict the leaders of the Procés was a new display of judicial inventiveness on a par with the accusation of rebellion, which ended up being dismissed. Embezzlement was not, because they needed charges to add years of prison. But the inconsistency of the accusation was the same.Llarena's reasons for not granting amnesty to Puigdemont also hold no water. Not only that, but they must be very close to prevarication, given his insistence on disobeying not only the amnesty law, but also a ruling from a high European court which, as a judge practicing within an EU member state, he has the obligation to abide by, comply with, and enforce. However, it is understood that Llarena's response is not addressed to legal experts, nor even to citizens with a minimum of critical spirit, but to the media outlets that applaud demonstrations of bullfighting pride. It is as if Llarena were saying that, faced with the hemlock of having to amnesty an enemy of Spain, he will not do so unless at least a Spanish court orders him to (even if it is a court, the Constitutional Court, which the ever-equanimous Esteban González Pons defined two years ago as “the cancer of the rule of law,” despite the use and abuse the Popular Party made of it when it held a majority). Llarena does not care that he has repeatedly made a fool of himself before European justice with his international arrest warrants against Puigdemont. He has seen that it does not work, but his reaction is to maintain the arrest warrant within the territory of the Spanish state: if Puigdemont sets foot there, he will be automatically arrested, a scene that has been the judge's wet dream for nine years. To save Spain, naturally.The fact is serious, but it seems anecdotal because in these years we have seen the Spanish justice system commit so many absurdities, and of such magnitude, that this stubbornness of Llarena seems like little in comparison. It serves as a reminder, in any case, of the fact that the CJEU ruling not only represents an endorsement of the amnesty law (which dismantled the entire rule of law in Spain, according to the right and the extreme right), but also exposed, to the point of scandal, the televised shame that was the Procés trial. And it also reminds us that the judiciary, converted into a political weapon of conservative ultranationalism, remains the most serious problem of the many that Spanish democracy has.

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The first words today must be to congratulate Sebastià Alzamora.Yesterday, the Spanish Ministry of Culture announced that it was awarding him the 2026 National Poetry Prize for the book “Sala Augusta seguit de Llengua materna”, published by Proa. In a Hispanic culture where only that which is Castilian is authentically Spanish, the fact that the ministry has distinguished an author in Catalan is an oasis of recognition and coexistence that we celebrate. This, plus what Alzamora said, that “the prize was received by a book written in Catalan in Mallorca, where the Spanish right and far-right are working to destroy the Catalan language in all spheres”. Be that as it may, many congratulations, Sebastià.For the rest, we are in the same place. With a change that seems minor, but might not be. Judge Llarena blew hot and cold yesterday regarding the application of the amnesty.

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Now it's for real: countdown for the amnesty for the leaders of the 'Procés'. Or that is what was felt this Thursday in the corridors of the opening of the judicial year at the Supreme Court. According to sources familiar with the high court who spoke to ARA, the application of the law to the 1-O Government, including former president Carles Puigdemont, could be triggered after the resolution of the first amparo appeal by the Constitutional Court, without needing to wait for them to be resolved individually one by one. The same voices argue that the first pronouncement “would generate a doctrine” that could extend to the rest of the cases. It is, precisely, the same thing that the president of the TC defended, Cándido Conde-Pumpido, a few days ago in an interview. That is to say, although Carles Puigdemont's case will not be the first one the TC addresses, the arrest warrant against him could be lifted when the Constitutional Court rules on the appeal of former minister Jordi Turull, which is the lead case and, in principle, will be the first to have a ruling, which all sources assume will be favorable. It would arrive in the month of October and would drag the rest along.

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The independence movement celebrates the decision of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) to endorse the European fit of the amnesty law. News that, in theory, should accelerate its application by all courts that have so far refused to do so. But there is one that, for the moment, does not feel addressed. The Supreme Court will continue to not amnesty Carles Puigdemont, Oriol Junqueras, and the rest of the leaders convicted of embezzlement, according to sources consulted by ARA. What room does it have to do so? For now, whatever it wants, despite the legal services of Junts and ERC denouncing that it has been breaking the law for months.

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The Constitutional Court (CC) will hold a plenary session this coming week in which it will decide on whether to admit Carles Puigdemont's appeal for protection against the non-application of the amnesty by Supreme Court judge Pablo Llarena. In the request, the Junts leader includes a request, as a precautionary measure, for the CC to order the judge to lift the current arrest warrant on Spanish soil.

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The Mossos d'Esquadra did not foresee the possibility that former president Carles Puigdemont would flee after his speech at the Arc de Triomf on August 8 last year. They already said so in the Supreme Court, and this Monday the then head of the force, Eduard Sallent, reiterated before the judge that Puig's movement. Judicial sources, Sallent has admitted that he cannot rule out that the three officers investigated for helping Puigdemont flee were aware of the details of the operation that tried to arrest him. in an accusation of cover-up and failure to prosecute crimes. on the operation that day, in which the body's leadership already acknowledged that there had been "errors"According to the same sources, Sallent also told the judge that the Mossos d'Esquadra (Catalan police) did not speak with the National Police regarding border control on a day when the police activated a cage operation, which was insufficient to catch Puigdemont before he left Catalonia.

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From the beginning it was seen that the Supreme Court would place all possible obstacles to the application of the amnesty law to Carles Puigdemont and the rest of the main pro-independence leaders during 1-O, but especially to the former president. Això has contributed to a long and cumbersome judicial battle that this year, the prosecutors have visited a new capitol in the Supreme Court of Appeal, with both the Prosecutor's Office and the State Advocacy, together with Puigdemont's Advocate, Gonzalo Boye, defending that the amnesty was applied without delays when considering that it was not hi ha, such as defense judge Pablo Llarena, crime of embezzlement for mig. Boye has also defended that the case take place in the TSJC and that the Catalan judges be the ones to decide.

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Former CUP MP Anna Gabriel has returned this Tuesday after almost five years of exile in Switzerland in order to appear before the Spanish Supreme Court (SSC). This was reported by surprise this morning by the court itself in a statement. Gabriel appeared accompanied by her lawyer, Iñigo Iruín Sanz, who also represents the former Catalan minister Meritxell Serret. In fact, Serret was the first exile to return to the country, and Gabriel just the second. After appearing before SSC judge Pablo Llarena, she was summoned for questioning in the near future and was subsequently released. Gabriel plans to return to Switzerland today.

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It was a a dense session today at the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) as it heard the questions raised by Spanish Supreme Court judge Pablo Llarena after the Belgian courts refused the extradition of the former conseller Lluís Puig. Throughout the morning, all parties have been able to present their arguments and the European Commission, as guardian of the treaties and rules of the European Union, has defended the Spanish position. According to the Commission, Belgium should not have assessed whether or not Puig would have a fair trial in Spain when receiving the European arrest warrant, because "there is no systemic problem of rule of law" in Spain.

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"In 2011 this magistrate received the medal of merit of Barcelona's Guàrdia Urbana delivered by Mayor Xavier Trias, of the same party as Carles Puigdemont, and when Quim Forn was first deputy mayor of Barcelona." "No impartial observer could see a lack of impartiality when Meritxell Serret appeared voluntarily before this magistrate and her freedom was agreed." "This magistrate has not appreciated that there are indications of criminality against some of those who were indicted in this procedure, such as Artur Mas, Marta Pascal or Neus Lloveras." Faced with the challenge presented by Puigdemont and the exiled former Catalan ministers, after he accepted an award from an entity that "fully defends the ideology of the far right" –in the defence's words–, the Villacisneros Foundation, the Supreme Court magistrate Pablo Llarena answered that this distinction does not affect his impartiality as neither did that of the Guàrdia Urbana, received 10 years ago, and he tries to demonstrate it by listing "favourable" decisions for the defence.

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"Well, that's 59... Time does not stand still, but neither do we. We will celebrate the 60th together at home". This phrase accompanied the photograph posted by former Catalan president Carles Puigdemont on his Instagram on the day of his birthday, last December 29. Quite a declaration of intentions (and of confidence in the judicial resolutions he expects), taking into account that 2022 will be the key year in which exiles' legal battle will reach its outcome. It is expected that the resolutions on the preliminary questions raised by the Supreme Court judge Pablo Llarena and on the immunity of the Junts MEPs will be announced before June. Probably between March and April, as explained to ARA by sources of the defence for former Catalan government members who are in Belgium. This means that, four years after leaving Catalonia, during the first half of this year it will be clear if exiles win the battle against the State over extraditions and if, through the Luxembourg resolutions, paths are opened for their return.

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Spain already has partners to defend its position in the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) in the preliminary rulings against former Catalan president Carles Puigdemont and the other exiles. Romania and Poland are the only EU states that have backed Spanish Supreme Court magistrate Pablo Llarena, who questions the ability of Belgian judges to refuse to extradite former minister Lluís Puig and, by assimilation, to other exiles in Belgium. As advanced by La Razón and confirmed by sources of the defence, these two countries are interested in the case, as is Belgium, although for opposite reasons: it supports the criterion of its own courts.

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Spanish Supreme Court magistrate Pablo Llarena has perplexed the European courts and is the main responsible for the fact that the international image of the Spanish state is at a low ebb, at least in the legal sphere. His obsession to achieve the extradition of former Catalan president Carles Puigdemont has even led him, in the case of Italy, to try to deceive the European General Court (EGC), which thought that the European arrest warrant was suspended because the Attorney General's Office had said so. This Monday, however, Sassari's Court of Appeal has decided to suspend the extradition procedure until the EGC rules on Puigdemont's immunity and the Court of Justice of the European Union rules on the pre-trial question Llarena submitted when a Belgian court rejected the extradition of former minister Lluís Puig.

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The first time that Carles Puigdemont declared before judge Plinia Azzena in Sassari it was in a conference call from Bancali prison. This Monday the former Catalan president will arrive from Belgium and, if there are no surprises, his legal team expects him to return in freedom and without precautionary measures. Ten days after being arrested at the airport of Alghero and imprisoned overnight, the MEP has another appointment before Sassari's Court of Appeal to deal with the Spanish Supreme Court's (SSC) arrest warrant.

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Spanish Supreme Court judge Pablo Llarena insists and asks Italy to hand over Carles Puigdemont, since, he stresses, the European Arrest Warrant against him is still in force. This is a confirmation of his words last Friday, the day after the former president was arrested in Sardinia. Llanera has written to the Sassari court of appeal to clarify its interpretation of the judicial mess surrounding the Catalan leader. He already stated that the European Arrest Warrant remained in force and that the preliminary question sent to the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) on March 9 this year did not mean the warrant was withdrawn.

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Meritxell Serret, Catalan Minister of Agriculture at the time of the 2017 Independence Referendum, was charged on March 21, 2018 for alleged disobedience and embezzlement of public funds. And it is precisely for these two crimes for which she could now be judged after the investigating judge, Pablo Llarena, communicated this Thursday that he had completed the indictment and sent the case on to the second chamber of the Supreme Court, presided over by Manuel Marchena. "After completing the proceedings been deemed necessary for the verification of the crime, as well as to determine the defendant's participation in the events and the concurrent circumstances in its commission and considering any other inquiry unnecessary, it is appropriate to conclude the present indictment," the four-page order reads.

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Unexpected changed of tack by Catalan political exiles. This Thursday morning the former minister of Agriculture Meritxell Serret has returned to take her seat in the Catalan Parliament and regularise her situation before the Supreme Court. Exiled in Belgium since the declaration of independence in 2017, Serret has appeared before the high court accompanied by her lawyer to make herself available to the investigating judge, Pablo Llarena. The magistrate - through a judicial secretary - has decided to summon her on April 8 for questioning and has allowed her to be released in the meantime. At 6pm she is expected to arrive at her village, Vallfogona de Balaguer, where ERC has already convened a welcome rally in which she will be joined by Speaker Roger Torrent and the ministers Bernat Solé and Teresa Jordà.

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The process to withdraw MEPs Carles Puigdemont, Toni Comín and Clara Ponsatí's immunity has not been smooth nor has it involved unanimous support for the Spanish justice system, rather the opposite. Despite the final approval of the request, the result draws a clear division in the European Parliament around the Catalan issue: 400 votes in favor, 248 against and 45 abstentions. In other words, 42% of MEPs have refused to endorse the reactivation of the process of extradition of Catalan pro-independence leaders who are in exile outside Spain and who won the support of nearly one million votes in the last European elections. As Toni Comín said, this is a "political victory" for Catalan independence, which once again sees how things in Europe are seen substantially different than in the Spanish state.

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It is back to the courts for Carles Puigdemont, Toni Comín and Clara Ponsatí after their parliamentary immunity was withdrawn this morning. The result of the European Parliament plenary vote on Monday is the definitive confirmation which comes as no surprise. By 400 votes in favour, 248 against and 45 abstentions, in the case of Puigdemont, and by 404 votes in favour, 247 against and 42 abstentions in the case of Comín and Ponsatí, the European Parliament has decided to grant the suspension of immunity requested by the Spanish Supreme Court so that the judicial process can continue in Belgium and Scotland for their extraditions

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