Puigdemont, former president of the regional government of Catalonia and living outside Spain since 2017 to escape Spanish justice, is expected to be one of the beneficiaries of the amnesty approved today and which he himself negotiated with Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez's socialists.
"A historic event has occurred today", said Puigdemont, in a statement from Belgium in which he highlighted that this is the first amnesty "for political reasons" in Spain since the 1978 Constitution that re-established democracy in the country came into force. .
The amnesty will affect "all those who were persecuted for defending the independence of Catalonia, both from political institutions and organizations and on the streets and in civil society" and "will allow us to return to politics what should never have left politics", he argued. .
Puigdemont considered that the amnesty reflects "the will of the Catalans" and that "the Spanish State, through its parliament, corrected a mistake" in relation to "thousands of people who suffered reprisals for years in criminal and administrative proceedings (...) simply because they are supporters of the pro-independence movement".
The Catalan leader considered that "it was essential" to correct this error, but stressed that what follows "is not exactly a bed of roses, starting with the application of the law itself", which depends on the judges.
"But today we pulled out a thorn in our side that prevented us from moving forward", he stated, after remembering that the amnesty was part of the agreement he signed with the Spanish Socialist Party (PSOE) to make Sánchez's last government viable, last November.
The law approved today was negotiated by the PSOE with Puigdemont's party (Together for Catalonia, JxCat) and the Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC), who demanded it to make the current Spanish executive viable.
It had 177 votes in favor and 172 against in the Spanish parliament and received the 'green light' after more than six months of debate and changes in the Congress of Deputies and the Senate of Spain, as well as protests with hundreds of thousands of people in the streets called by the Popular Party (PP, right) and Vox (extreme right).
In addition to the Spanish left and Catalan independence parties, nationalist and separatist formations from Galicia and the Basque Country voted in favor.
The law will come into force after being published, within a few days, and it will be up to the judges to apply it, evaluating case by case, within a maximum of two months, with the opinions of jurists being divided on the suspensive effects it may have. requests for assessment to the Constitutional Court (already promised by the PP) and to the judicial bodies of the European Union or other appeals from magistrates holding cases.
The amnesty covers those involved in the separatist movement in Catalonia between November 1, 2011 and November 13, 2023, a period that includes a popular consultation and a referendum considered illegal in 2014 and 2017, as well as the 2017 unilateral declaration of independence that Puigdemont starred.
The PSOE estimates that 309 people linked to the independence movement will be amnestied, as well as 73 police officers who face legal proceedings due to their involvement in demonstrations and on the day of the 2017 referendum.
Puigdemont was a candidate in the autonomous elections on May 12th - in which he received the second most votes - and intends to return to Catalonia soon, in time for the formation of the new Catalan executive and when the amnesty law is already in force, although it is not certain that the arrest warrant on Spanish territory against him is automatically lifted.
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