Phoenix 24
The ruling prolongs the legal uncertainty surrounding the former Catalan president despite European approval of Spain’s amnesty law.
MADRID, SPAIN
Supreme Court judge Pablo Llarena has rejected Carles Puigdemont’s request to apply Spain’s amnesty law to the alleged misuse of public funds connected with Catalonia’s 2017 independence referendum. The national arrest warrant against the former Catalan president therefore remains active.
The same decision applies to former Catalan minister Toni Comín. Llarena maintains that both politicians obtained a personal financial benefit because public resources were allegedly used to finance the independence process, allowing them to avoid paying those expenses personally.
The ruling follows a decision by the Court of Justice of the European Union concluding that Spain’s amnesty legislation does not, in itself, violate European law. Llarena argues that the European judgment does not resolve whether Puigdemont’s specific conduct falls within the exclusions established by the Spanish legislation.
Spain’s Constitutional Court upheld the general constitutionality of the amnesty law in 2025 but has not issued a definitive ruling on its application to Puigdemont. The Supreme Court could reconsider its position after the Constitutional Court resolves related appeals, particularly the case involving former Catalan minister Jordi Turull.
Puigdemont would consequently face arrest if he returned to Spain while the warrant remains in force. The dispute has moved beyond the validity of the amnesty itself and now centres on who determines its limits: Parliament, the ordinary courts, the Constitutional Court or European judicial institutions.
Reconciliation requires law, but law also requires a shared interpretation of justice.