The Criminal Chamber of the Supreme Court has confirmed that it will not apply the amnesty law to the crime of embezzlement for which the leaders of the Catalan independence process of 2017 were condemned by the judges, in accordance with what was established by magistrate Pablo Llarena in. In the case of Carles Puigdemont, they understand that the accused obtained a “personal benefit of a patrimonial nature” by committing public means and funds in the organization of the referendum and that this prevents the application of the amnesty law and forgive this crime. The Supreme Court explains that the “will of the legislator” when drafting the amnesty law is not enough to forgive embezzlement: “Political will is not enough to amnesty an act. To ask that we interpret the Law without any reference other than the will of the legislator is to ask that we abdicate our role as judges,” declares the Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court itself has raised a question of unconstitutionality concerning the amnesty law before the Constitutional Court, a jurisdiction which is waiting to examine both this challenge and the two dozen appeals presented, among others, by governments autonomous chaired by the Popular Party and the party itself by Alberto Núñez Feijóo.
