In order to form a government of PSOE and Sumar (centre and left) and avoid a government of PP and VOX (right and far right), they concluded a pact with eight parties, with 179 seats, representing 12.3 million citizens. The supporters of the independence of Catalonia, essential to achieve the pact, demanded as a first condition the approval of an amnesty law that would deactivate the judicial repression with which the high judiciary, motivated by its aggravated Spanish nationalism, has persecuted Catalan nationalists (500 people have convictions or ongoing trials). The PSOE, also very nationalist and rejected the amnesty, made a U-turn after the elections and accepted the amnesty in order not to lose the government.

Spanish nationalism does not accept the amnesty for Catalonia

However, the amnesty law is not accepted by Spanish nationalism, so we will see how it is applied. But in reality, it would have been fair to declare the cases null and void, admitting that the Catalan independence supporters had committed no crime by organizing a referendum on self-determination and that the charges against them were part of the “lawfare” (the instrumentalization of justice for political ends) that the state used against them.

Then the police officers who improperly attacked the referendum voters could have been tried. The amnesty, on the other hand, cancels the crimes that are thought to have been committed by both sides, but the fact is that the pro-independence party acted democratically and committed no crime, while the state acted outside the law.

Although the amnesty is unfair to the pro-independence parties, as they are accused of crimes, it is precisely the culprit of Spanish nationalism that, as a strong party, they cannot win and humiliate the weak, as they have always done.

Since the state is the strong party, the approval of the amnesty implicitly implies that the state has acted illegally with the illegitimate aim of destroying a perfectly legitimate political movement.

Legal twists

The Spanish Congress made sure that the law was unambiguous, as it was certain that the judges would try to interpret the law in a distorted way, to the detriment of Catalan pro-independence advocates.

Since it is not possible to grant amnesty to specific individuals on the grounds that they are in favour of independence (in fact, being in favour of independence was “their crime”), amnesty was granted for specific crimes, in the context of the Catalan independence process, with some exceptions: embezzlement (with personal enrichment or with consequences for the financial interests of the EU), high treason (with “an effective use of force against territorial integrity”), and terrorism (“having deliberately caused serious violations of human rights”).

The law, passed on March 7, was rejected by the judges and the justices, with former President Aznar saying that “anyone who can do something against the amnesty law should do so”. A manual on how to paralyze the application of the amnesty law, ignoring the spirit of the legislator, was distributed to all judges via the official email of the General Council of the Judiciary (the highest body of the Spanish judiciary), which nullifies the rule of law for Catalan pro-independence advocates.

Many missing in Catalonia amnesty

Regarding the crime of high treason, Judge Joaquín Aguirre does not want to grant amnesty to those accused of the secret plan that he says the Catalan independence movement had with Putin to destabilize Europe. He himself has made statements on German television, spreading secret information from the case in order to discredit the accused.

Judge Manuel García-Castellón also refused to grant amnesty to Puigdemont and seven other people (who had gone into exile in Switzerland) for the terrorist crime he attributed to the 2019 demonstrations.

Fortunately, the judge was forced to close the case, but not because of the application of the amnesty, but because of a procedural error. Five of the suspects were eventually able to return from exile.

Nor is there any amnesty for the seven young men arrested in 2019 for terrorism in a dramatic police operation that made headlines. It seemed that they wanted to influence the elections that were to be held two months later by suggesting that the peaceful Catalan independence movement had turned to terrorism.

Information and decontextualized video footage of the interrogations were leaked to the press, which was a serious breach of the confidentiality of the case. After the elections, they were released on bail. Would they have been released if they were really terrorists?

The judge has decided not to grant amnesty and to refer the case to the European Court of Justice. This will further delay the eventual acquittal.

Embezzlement?

As for embezzlement, the Supreme Court rejected the amnesty and the arrest warrants against Puigdemont, Comín and Puig (with charges of 12 years in prison!) remain in force.

They claim that the politicians embezzled money through “personal enrichment” in organising the referendum because, although they did not keep a single euro, they can be considered to have saved money by contributing personal money. They also claim that they would have damaged the financial interests of the EU.

The judges never mention the amount embezzled, because they don’t even know what to register. But the fact is that in 2017 the government of Madrid intervened in the finances of the Catalan government. The Minister of Finance, Cristóbal Montoro of the PP, already assured that no public euros had been used to finance the referendum.

In reality, there was no embezzlement of any kind, as the referendum was carried out on a voluntary basis and with private funds.

Furthermore, the judges want to justify the financial damage to the EU by invoking an EU directive that has not yet been adopted (!) and that refers to the appropriation of European economic funds. That was not in the Supreme Court ruling of 2019, but according to them it was there now.

The positive thing is that in this Supreme Court ruling, five magistrates voted in favour, but one magistrate, Ana Ferrer (clearly against independence), voted against. She believes that not granting amnesty distorts the interpretation of the law and sees the danger that this would imply that the European Court of Human Rights would condemn the Spanish justice system.

Catalonia Amnesty: Partially Granted, Provisional

At this point, amnesty has been granted: on the one hand, 20 activists and four Catalan civil servants, and on the other hand, 50 Spanish police officers. It is doubly insulting that the amnesty cannot be applied in the normal way to peaceful Catalan pro-independence activists, but is instead applied to the police officers who attacked them.

And the most serious thing on a human level is that the Spanish people, with the exception of the Catalans, justify the abuse of justice against the Catalan independence fighters, because the media dehumanizes them and presents their objectives as totally unacceptable.

By taking away the rights of the Catalans, they are feeding the beast of fascism. This beast, which the EU is concerned about, has been attacking the Catalans for centuries and now that Catalonia is demanding political rights, this fascism is accepted in the Spanish state without any objection.

In Catalonia there is bewilderment that the high magistrates are not applying the amnesty law as it is written, but as they see fit, in a kind of judicial coup d’état against the Spanish Parliament, and that nothing will happen to them if they do so.

Even if the Constitutional Court gives them permission, there is no way to stop them in Spain. They will have to turn to the European justice system, where the legal cases will take years.

The only solution is for Catalonia to become a new state in Europe, like Andorra or Portugal.