Borràs asks the TSJC to process his pardon
Demands that the prison sentence and disqualification be suspended until the Spanish government makes a statement
BarcelonaFormer Catalan Parliament Speaker Laura Borràs has asked the High Court of Justice of Catalonia (TSJC) to process her pardon and forward it to the Spanish government, which will then have to decide whether or not to grant it. The judges themselves had already proposed reducing the four-and-a-half-year prison sentence imposed on Borràs for the splitting of contracts at the Catalan Institution of Letters (ILC) with a partial pardon, and now her defense team is asking the court to suspend the sentence until the Spanish government makes a statement. This request represents a reversal of the script by the former Catalan Parliament Speaker, who previously said she would not make the request.
In a document reviewed by ARA, Borràs's lawyers are asking the TSJC (High Court of Justice) to submit to the Spanish government the proposal for a partial pardon that the judges themselves proposed in the ruling, now that the ruling is final, before taking "any other measures." A month ago, the Supreme Court upheld the ruling, which became final, and now the TSJC is responsible for executing it: that's why it asked all parties involved how they think the procedure should be followed. It is in this context that Borràs has asked to process the pardon indicated in the ruling and to suspend the sentence in the meantime.
Specifically, Borràs's defense brief requests that, before taking other measures, the court "proceed to execute what is established in the fifth legal reasoning, section 5.3, in the terms expressed in the last paragraph of the aforementioned reasoning" of the TSJC's ruling. Section 5.3 referred to by Borràs's defense is the one the court dedicates to developing its proposal for a partial pardon, and its last paragraph consists of a single sentence: "The above will lead us to submit to the [Spanish] government a proposal for a partial pardon of the prison sentence that we will impose [on Borrà"
Borràs was convicted of crimes of prevarication and falsification of documents. In March 2023, he was sentenced to four and a half years in prison and 13 years of disqualification from office, in addition to a fine of 36,000 euros. The Supreme Court, while declaring the sentence final, ruled out Borràs's eligibility for the amnesty, arguing that this law is not applicable to corruption crimes unrelated to the process.
"I won't grovel for a pardon"
Until now, Borràs has publicly maintained that he would not ask for a pardon, but he would the amnesty, which has been rejected by both the Prosecutor's Office and the Supreme Court. "I'm not going to crawl for a pardon. I don't need to be told whether they're going to grant it or not, because I'm not going to ask for one," she said in a video she released a few weeks after receiving the sentence from the TSJC (High Court of Justice).
On behalf of the Spanish government, which is the body that can grant pardons, Yolanda Díaz, Second Vice President and Minister of Labor, spoke out a month ago on the case of Laura Borràs. In an interview on Catalunya Ràdio, the minister refused to grant pardons in cases related to corruption: "These exceptional measures should not go hand in hand with issues allegedly linked to corruption."
A "disproportionate and excessive" sentence
In their ruling two years ago, the High Court of Justice (TSJC) judges described Borràs's legally mandated sentence for the splitting of 18 contracts as "disproportionate and excessive." Therefore, they opted to use a mechanism that allows judges to propose a partial pardon in cases where the application of the law would result in a "significantly excessive" sentence.
The partial pardon that the High Court of Justice (TSJC) proposed in the ruling would mean Borràs's prison sentence would not exceed two years, which could prevent him from having to go to prison. In fact, the judges themselves considered that in Borràs's case, the execution of the prison sentence "is not necessary to prevent the commission of new crimes in the future." This partial pardon would apply only to the prison sentence associated with the continuing crime of document falsification, but not to the four-year disqualification for that same crime, nor to the conviction for malfeasance, which carries a further nine-year disqualification.
