Controversial Catalan amnesty gets green light in Spain
Almost eight years after the ‘hot autumn’ of 2017, the Catalonia conflict continues to keep Spain on tenterhooks. Now there is good news for the separatists - and also for the government in Madrid.
Madrid (dpa) - The controversial law on the amnesty of Catalan separatists has been given the green light by the Constitutional Court in Spain. The judges in Madrid overturned a judgement to the contrary by the Supreme Court, which had classified the rules as unconstitutional.
The state television station RTVE and other media also reported, citing judicial circles, that the Constitutional Court only ordered minor changes. Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez had promised the amnesty and other concessions to the ‘Catalanistas’ in order to secure the votes of two separatist parties for his re-election in November 2023.
Heated debates and criticism
The adoption of the ‘Law for institutional, political and social normalisation in Catalonia’ in the Madrid parliament last May was preceded by heated debates and several votes. The conservative People's Party, led by opposition leader Alberto Núñez Feijóo, also repeatedly criticised the amnesty, which was deemed unconstitutional by the Supreme Court.
Even after the Constitutional Court's decision was announced, the conservative opposition reiterated its criticism. Sánchez had ‘bought his way into power’ with the law, the secretary general of the PP (Partido Popular), Cuca Gamarra, told journalists, adding that the Supreme Court in Madrid had examined the law at the PP's request and ruled it unconstitutional because it violated the right to equality before the law, the principles of legal certainty and the prohibition of arbitrariness, among other things, according to a statement.
Exile
Several separatists who had fled abroad to escape Spanish justice were able to return home after the law came into force last year without being arrested. In some cases, however, the arrest warrants have not yet been cancelled by the responsible judges. This applies to the former head of the regional government Carles Puigdemont, among others. The 62-year-old has been living in exile in Belgium since the illegal independence referendum he organised in Catalonia in autumn 2017.
writer