Amnesty in Catalonia: keys and controversies of a controversial law

The Amnesty Law comes into effect after being published in the BOE. The preamble and the three titles of Organic Law 1/2024, of June 10, on amnesty for institutional, political, and social normalization in Catalonia, sanctioned by King Felipe VI, occupy the first 23 pages of today's BOE 141. From now on, its application is in the hands of the judges and courts that have cases related to the 'procés' on their desks: the Supreme Court, the National Court, the Court of Auditors, and more than 300 cases in the courts and tribunals of Catalonia. The law establishes that precautionary measures and current arrest warrants will be immediately suspended, but there are discrepancies between jurists and prosecutors from the Supreme Court who prosecuted the leaders of the 'procés' who have questioned whether this can be done automatically, reports Efe. The Supreme Court prosecutors have informed the Attorney General of the State, Álvaro García Ortiz, that they oppose granting amnesty for the crime of embezzlement because the law itself excludes it and also "affects the financial interests of the European Union (EU)," concerning former Catalan vice president Oriol Junqueras and former ministers Raul Romeva, Jordi Turull, and Dolors Bassa, convicted of embezzlement, former Catalan president Carles Puigdemont, and former ministers Toní Comín and Lluis Puig, prosecuted for embezzlement and disobedience. These prosecutors argue that the arrest warrant against Puigdemont and the fugitives cannot be withdrawn by the amnesty since, in their opinion, the crime justifying the validity of these warrants cannot be amnestied, embezzlement. The first step taken by Supreme Court judge Pablo Llarena will be to ask the defense and prosecution, as is expected to be done by a large majority of courts and tribunals in the country, that is, to address the parties to inform about the application of amnesty in each procedure that may be affected. Only then will the position of the Prosecutor's Office be known, which aims to maintain a unified action, although it is still unknown what its position will be regarding embezzlement or precautionary measures, a decision whose final word will be in the hands of the Attorney General. However, the application of the law may be conditioned by a factor since the courts, which have two months to apply the law, may raise a question of unconstitutionality before the Constitutional Court or a preliminary ruling before the Court of Justice of the EU, and the process they are working on would be suspended. The amnesty covers all crimes and acts with administrative or accounting liability related to the Catalan independence process and carried out between November 1, 2011, and November 13, 2023. Catalonia is the place where there are more cases affected by the amnesty than the Public Prosecutor's Office had estimated at around 300, not including those related to incidents in Barcelona, where most incidents occurred during the 'procés'. Acts committed with the intention of advocating or promoting the secession of Catalonia or holding the consultations of November 9, 2014, and October 1, 2017, and police actions aimed at preventing them are covered. To shield against possible preliminary questions to European justice, the law establishes in one article the crimes excluded from amnesty and limits forgiveness to embezzlement and the most serious terrorism.