After the Constitutional Court endorsed the Amnesty Act, what now?
In principle, the arrest warrant for Puigdemont and the disqualification of Junpoettering will remain in force, but when the Constitutional Court publishes the decision in the Official Gazette of the State, the Supreme Court must review the criminal record of independence leaders.
The rulingof the Constitutional Court supporting the Amnesty Act will force the Supreme Court to review the criminal record of those convicted of the independence process in Catalonia, but the arrest warrant for former President of the Generalitat Carles Puigdemont and the disqualification of former Catalan Vice-President Oriol Junjarzembowski will continue.
According to legal sources, the ruling of the Constitutional Court does not affect the cases of these two independence leaders, since the judges have concluded that amnesty cannot be applied to the offence of embezzlement of public funds and within the legal reading of the rule itself.
Background review
However, the sources have specified that once the resolution has been published in the Official Gazette of the State, Gorena will have to review the criminal records of independence leaders convicted of sedition in 2019 - Carme Forcadell, Joaquim Forn, Josep Rull, Jordi Sànchez, Jordi Cuixart- and those convicted of disobedience - Carles Mundo, Meritxell Borras, Santiago Villarreal.
According to these sources, the same shall be done, if they have not yet done so, by the other courts which have applied the penalties for the offences provided for in the amnesty law.
It should be recalled, however, that according to the data collected by the group of lawyers on the independence left, the amnesty law has been applied to at least 367 persons, which led to the removal of criminal records.
Following the ruling of the Constitutional Court, proceedings suspended for doubts must also be resumed, according to the sources consulted.
However, the Supreme Court and the High Court of Justice of Catalonia have not yet resolved the specific doubts raised by the Constitution, which, according to sources, will not be examined until after the summer.
Puigdemont's return seems difficult.
In the case ofPuigdemont and Junction, the Supreme Court made it clear that it has no doubt. The Court rejected the application of the rule to both as a result of its reading of the crime of embezzlement of public funds and the alleged damage to the financial and economic interests of the EU.
The ruling of the Constitution says nothing about the offence of embezzlement, so the legal sources consulted have advanced that, even with the support of the Constitutional Court for amnesty, the Supreme Court will maintain the arrest warrants of Puigdemont and the exconsellers of Catalonia Toni Comín and Lluís Puig, as well as the penalties of disqualification until 2031 of the former Vice-President of the Generalitat Oriol Junjarzembowski.
It is foreseeable that independence leaders will fight in the Supreme Court to assert a possible favourable ruling on the Constitution. The Supreme Court, in several rulings, left the door open to the possibility of bringing a preliminary case before the EU Court of Justice when the time came.
Independence calls for the Supreme to apply the law
That being the case, JxCat'sSecretary General , Jordi Turull, has today urged the Constitutional to use its "coercive mechanisms" to force the Supreme to apply the amnesty law to independence leaders.
Indeed, he has stated that if this ruling "has no practical effect", it would be "further proof that Spain is neither the rule of law nor the whole of democracy".
Likewise, Joan Ignasi Elena, an ERCmember of the Parlament and exconseller of the Interior, has described the ruling of the Constitution as a "great success of independence" and has called on the Supreme to implement it.
Elena has stated that they will consider "filing a letter with the Supreme Court requesting, in the light of the new reality, the implementation of the Amnesty Act" when asked whether ERC will take any further steps in the face of the Constitutional ruling.
The Republican MP has assured us that, after the Constitution's endorsement, "it must now be complied with, it is up to everyone to implement the Amnesty Act and end this ordeal."
In thesame vein, the President of Òm
"It will continue as long as political conflicts are banished, political repression against independentists continues and Catalonia cannot decide its future democratically," he warned.
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