Spain: MPs set to vote on controversial amnesty for Catalan separatists

Spanish MPs are due to pass a bill on Tuesday afternoon after its first reading to grant amnesty to Catalan separatists who tried to organize the secession of Catalonia in 2017, one of the worst political crises Spain has experienced since its return to democracy.

This amnesty was a non-negotiable condition imposed by the separatist parties in exchange for their substantial support for Parliament’s mid-November renewal of Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez for a new term. The project sparked protests by tens of thousands of demonstrators.

Carles Puigdemont will be able to return to Spain

If the law is passed, it will ultimately lead to the quashing of trials against hundreds of independence fighters and leaders. First beneficiary: Carles Puigdemont, regional president of Catalonia at the time, who would thus be able to return to Spain more than six years after his flight to Belgium to avoid prosecution.

In the Assembly, the government text should be able to count on a majority of 178 deputies out of 350 thanks to the votes of the Socialists, the far left with which Pedro Sánchez governs in coalition, as well as the Catalan and Basque parties. Its future remains uncertain in the Senate, where the People’s Party (PP), the main right-wing opposition group with a majority in the upper house, has vowed to do everything it can to slow down progress on the text. PP elected officials have even already changed Senate rules to increase the number of requests for opinions and reports before even starting the amendment battle.

“The worst version of politics”

The government has “traded impunity for power” and represents “the worst version of politics and the worst perversion of justice”, PP leader Alberto Nunez Feijoo told 45,000 supporters on Sunday in central Madrid during a new demonstration against the amnesty.

Support in Russia?

Part of the judiciary is also strongly opposed to this absolution, and judges have tried to speed up procedures so that their investigations will not fall under the purview of the law. On Monday, a Barcelona court magistrate investigating Carles Puigdemont’s alleged ties to Russia announced he had extended by six months an investigation that intends to determine whether the separatist sought Kremlin support in 2017 for eventual Catalan independence. . In a court document, the judge said he had “information” confirming “close personal relationships” between Puigdemont’s associates and people performing “diplomatic functions or (having) ties to Russian intelligence services.” According to El Pais newspaper, the investigation could lead to a trial against the Belgian refugee on charges of “treason”, which is not covered by the amnesty law.

A second legal front is also still open around the mysterious Democratic Tsunami organization behind the blockade of Barcelona airport in October 2019 to protest the sentencing of Catalan independence leaders to heavy prison terms. In this case, Judge Manuel García Castellon believes that the actions charged against Mr. Puigdemont, accused of running the organization in the shadows, could amount to “terrorism.”

VIDEO. In 2019, protesters blocked Barcelona airport, injuring 75 people

Since coming to power in 2018, socialist Pedro Sánchez has taken a softer approach to Catalonia than his conservative predecessor, pardoning nine jailed independence leaders and overturning the crime of sedition for which they were convicted. A winning bet: the radical separatists of the Junta party and the more moderate members of the ERC defected in the elections in favor of the Catalan Socialists. Sánchez’s PSOE now hopes to wrest the Catalan regional government from the ERC in regional elections next year. As for the Catalan population, they support the amnesty law, but are increasingly speaking out in favor of Catalan independence, even in Barcelona.