Puigdemont welcomes decisions on amnesty without revealing whether to return to Spain

O Spain’s Constitutional Court today endorsed the amnesty of all the independent leaders of Catalonia and the Supreme Court withdrew the arrest warrant of Carles Puigemont, who has lived in Belgium since 2017, to escape justice, after that year leading the region’s attempt to self-determination, with the organization of an illegal referendum and a unilateral declaration of independence.

In a statement from Belgium transmitted by the Spanish media, Puigdemont considered that today’s decisions of Spanish justice are “the failure of the strategy of various Spanish public authorities that prevented and delayed the application of amnesty for strictly political reasons”.

The Catalan independenceist accused Spanish judges and politicians of “manipulating and twisting” the law, in force more than two years ago, and condemned “the improper use of the judiciary to interfere in a political conflict, which is the responsibility of politics to resolve rather than the judges”.

Puigdemont did not reveal whether and when he intends to return to Spain.

The former president of the regional government left Spain in 2017 to escape justice and today's decision of the Supreme Court, to leave without effect the arrest order that he was targeted, can return to the country immediately without being detained.

Shortly before this decision of the Supreme, the Spanish Constitutional Court adopted a decision in response to several appeals in which it endorsed the amnesty of all the independent leaders of Catalonia, including those accused or convicted of the crime of embezzlement.

The Supreme Court has so far denied granting amnesty to Puigdemont and other political leaders involved in the attempted self-determination of Catalonia 2017 with the argument that the law passed by parliament did not cover the crime of peculato.

According to today's decision of the Constitutional Court, the Spanish Supreme made an “extensive interpretation, contrary to the spirit and purpose” of the amnesty law passed by the national parliament in 2024.

The Constitutional Court also stressed that the Court of Justice of the European Union (TJEU) endorsed the amnesty law in a July judgment this year.

Amnesty has already been applied to about 300 people by various Spanish courts.

The Supreme himself applied the law for the first time in July following the judgment of the TJEU.

Spain will have national early elections on 29 November, announced on Monday the Prime Minister, socialist Pedro Sánchez, and today's decisions of justice open the door to the return to the country of Puigdemont in the middle of the electoral period.

Puigdemont continues to lead the party Together by Catalonia (JxCat), which currently has seven deputies in the Spanish parliament.