This Thursday, according to the left-wing coalition government of Spain, an essential step was achieved to try to overcome the political and social conflict in Catalonia and to leave behind the consequences of the unilateral declaration of independence in 2017: The Spanish Parliament definitively approved the amnesty law for Catalan independentists.
(Also read: Spain: the controversial amnesty law for Catalan independentists, definitively approved)
The defenders of the law, in any case, are aware of the uncertainty that now arises regarding its application.since it is not a generalized automatic amnesty but rather it will depend on each judge in each process.
And it will also depend on whether the judges in Spain raise a question about the constitutionality or not of the law or even appeal to European justice to determine if it is in accordance with community legislationwhich would suspend the application of this rule, which is key for Pedro Sánchez’s second term as President of the Government.
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But why does the law raise so much controversy and what does it imply in practice? Here are five questions to understand it.
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1. Who benefits from the amnesty law?
Once it is published in the Official State Gazette – which will happen in the coming days -, sentences may be annulled or the processes initiated against hundreds of activists and leaders involved in what was one of the most serious political crises in the modern Spain.
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From Belgium, where he has been living since 2017 to evade Spanish justice, Puigdemont celebrated the amnesty as a “historic” step by the independentists in their “combat” with the Spanish State. In his brief message, he did not say anything about his possible return to Spain, but his party had said that he could return to be present at the investiture debate of the new Catalan president in the regional Parliament, which will occur no later than June 25.
The law covers which facts?
At first the deadline was shorter, but the separatists insisted on including the last two months of 2011preamble to a process that had one of its high points in the unilateral declaration of independence of Catalonia on October 27, 2017, which had no practical effects.
(In context: Why does the Catalan amnesty law cause controversy in Spain and what is at stake?)
What crimes will be amnestied?
One of the most sensitive aspects, which forced negotiations to be reopened after an initial rejection by the independence supporters of the text at the end of January, is the reference to terrorism.
Carles Puigdemont’s party considered that the first version did not offer the necessary guarantees to protect all those affected, starting with its leader.
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To prevent it from being annulled by the Spanish Constitutional Court or the European Court of Justice, the new version has eliminated the reference to the Spanish Penal Code and has taken as the only criterion European law, in this case the 2017 European Directive and the European Convention on Human Rightswho have a different concept of the notion of terrorism.
In addition to advancing that a preliminary ruling must be requested before the Superior Court of Justice of the European Union and another of unconstitutionality before the Constitutional Court in Spain, which would paralyze its application.
Since when will the amnesty apply?
But they could also consult the Spanish Constitutional Court or European justice if the law complies with the law, which would considerably delay the application of the amnesty.
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The independentists are also aware of this. The general secretary of Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya, Marta Rovira, from Switzerland, where she fled from Spanish Justice, agreed that “The great challenge” is its application, “which depends on each judge.”
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What do those in favor and those against say?
Presented from the beginning as a tool for reconciliation, this law is above all vital for the left-wing government of Pedro Sánchez, since it It was the condition that the Catalan independence deputies imposed on him to support his investiture and parliamentary initiatives..
“In politics, as in life, forgiveness is more powerful than resentment. Today Spain is more prosperous and more united than in 2017. Coexistence is making its way,” Sánchez published in X.
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The session in which the law received final approval was a true reflection of the tension that characterizes Spanish politics.to the point that it was suspended for a few moments until a harsh exchange of accusations, including insults, between the left-wing Sumar formation, government partner of the socialist PSOE, and the far-right Vox, ceased.
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