The left-wing government in Spain wants to ease the Catalonia conflict with an amnesty. But the Supreme Court has rejected it.
The controversial amnesty for Catalan separatists is being brought before the Constitutional Court in Spain. This was the decision of the Supreme Court in Madrid. The five judges of the second chamber of the Tribunal Supremo said they were convinced that the law, which came into force around one and a half months ago, was unconstitutional because, among other things, it violated the right to equality before the law and the principles of legal certainty and the prohibition of arbitrariness.
Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez had promised the “Catalanistas” the amnesty and other concessions in order to secure the votes of two separatist parties for his re-election in November. The adoption of the “Law for the Institutional, Political and Social Normalization in Catalonia” in Parliament at the end of May was preceded by heated debates and several votes.
Separatists returned home
After the law came into force, several separatists who had fled abroad to escape the Spanish justice system were able to return home without being arrested. In some cases, however, the arrest warrants have not yet been lifted by the responsible judges.
This applies, among others, to the former regional government head Carles Puigdemont. The 61-year-old, who has been living in exile in Belgium since the illegal independence referendum in autumn 2017, assured that he would return anyway. After the most recent regional election in May, he wants to take part in the debates on the formation of the new government in the parliament in Barcelona and apply for the post of regional president.
Although Sánchez’s socialists and leading candidate Salvador Illa won the most seats in the election, they failed to achieve an absolute majority. But the various parties supporting independence also failed to form a governing majority for the first time since 1980. Sánchez viewed this as a success of his appeasement policy. However, if there is no new government by August 26, a new election will have to be called in the region in northeastern Spain.
Source: Stern
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