Catalan: Spain approves amnesty law for nationalists

It was approved in a preliminary congressional vote in March, before going to the opposition-controlled Senate, which delayed the bill’s passage but was unable to block it altogether.

Once the law is published in the official gazette, judges will have two months in which to apply it. It could still face legal appeals but they are not expected to hinder its implementation.

The amnesty is expected to benefit nearly 400 Catalan nationalists who have been facing legal action since November 2011. Many of them were involved in the organisation of an independence referendum in 2017 which was deemed illegal. Police who have been facing prosecution for attacking voters during the referendum will also benefit from the law.

However, the most high-profile and controversial beneficiary is Carles Puigdemont, the former president of Catalonia who led the 2017 secession drive before going into self-exile in Belgium, where he has resided ever since while evading extradition. Several other pro-independence politicians also left the country.

Mr Puigdemont’s Together for Catalonia (JxCat) party and the Catalan Republican Left (ERC) demanded the amnesty from Mr Sánchez in exchange for their parliamentary support for his coalition government.

Mr Puigdemont has said he intends to return to Spain for an investiture vote in the region’s parliament, which is likely to take place in June. He ran as the lead candidate for JxCat in a recent Catalan election, coming second to the Catalan Socialist Party (PSC). Although the former regional president has said he intends to form a government, he does not appear to have enough support to do so.

“This is not clemency, it is a necessary redress. Today we have won a battle, but the conflict isn’t over,” said Miriam Nogueras of JxCat party.