Spanish amnesty law on jailed Catalan activists sparks controversy in Brussels

The Spanish Constitutional Court has approved a highly contentious Amnesty Law that pardons hundreds of Catalan separatists involved in the secessionist push from 2012 to 2023.

“This is very good news for Spain, we are closing a political crisis which began in 2010,” Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez told reporters ahead of the European Council summit held in Brussels on June 26.

Nevertheless, as an article by Euractiv points out, the European Commission has voiced concerns over its legality. A leaked draft from the Commission, cited by Spanish media, suggests that granting legal immunity to Catalan lawmakers in return for supporting Sánchez’s 2023 re-election could qualify as a “self-amnesty,” since it was passed with backing from those set to benefit directly.

Separately, the Council of Europe’s Venice Commission issued a review last year finding that while the law “aimed” to advance political reconciliation and was compatible with international law, it criticized the rushed legislative process and called for deeper institutional dialogue to help mend political and social fractures between Madrid and Barcelona.

The origins of the modern-republic crisis date back to October 2017, when Catalonia defied a court ban to hold an independence referendum, prompting a crackdown by police. Madrid responded by suspending the region’s autonomy, and in 2019, Spain’s Supreme Court sentenced nine separatist leaders to lengthy prison terms, triggering mass protests. The episode is still widely seen as Spain’s gravest political crisis since the return to democracy in 1975, following the death of military ruler Francisco Franco.

The new ruling, however, offers no relief for self-exiled separatist leader Carles Puigdemont. The judge presiding over his case ruled the amnesty does not apply due to ongoing embezzlement charges related to the financing of the banned 2017 referendum. Puigdemont, who fled to Belgium with several cabinet members just as Spain’s attorney general sought charges in 2017, still faces prosecution for alleged misuse of public funds. While the law covers rebellion and sedition—charges previously brought against pro-independence leaders—embezzlement remains exempt.

He, officially, has only once returned to Spain since then, to deliver a brief public address in 2024 in front of a Barcelona crowd. He was expected to attend a key regional parliament session for the investiture of a new Catalan leader. However, he vanished shortly thereafter, sparking a frantic police search as authorities moved to detain the fugitive former president.

By Nazrin Sadigova