The presentation of the Justice Commission of Congress, which this Thursday addressed the amendments to the amnesty law proposal, has approved the eight modifications, slight and of a technical nature, that the PSOE had previously agreed with some of its partners: Add , ERC, EH Bildu and BNG. These same amendments will be debated next Tuesday, the 23rd, in the entire Justice Commission, before the bill incorporates them for final approval by the full Congress on January 30. ERC and Junts have supported them, despite some discrepancies, so that they were not boycotted by the opposition of the PP and Vox. Among these adjustments there is no change in the terrorism chapter: that is, the law will continue to exclude terrorism crimes convicted “with a final sentence”, although it will include those in which there is not yet a final sentence. In practice, this would allow amnesty for Carles Puigdemont, Marta Rovira and several members of the so-called CDR, investigated in separate cases for alleged terrorism crimes, but in a very early phase of the procedure and, therefore, very far from having a final sentence. .
The presentation lasted less than an hour. During it, the report of the three lawyers of that commission, known the day before, was first studied, in which “doubts” were expressed about the constitutionality of the law. Specifically, the report warns about the distinction made between terrorism crimes with or without a final sentence, and states that it could violate European Law. The reports of the legal experts of Congress are indicative, to correct possible legal defects of the legal initiatives, but the decision is made by the political representatives.
Junts and ERC had registered an amendment that asked to completely eliminate the paragraph referring to terrorist crimes and thus establish that all of them were amnestiable, including those convicted with a final sentence. These amendments have been rejected out of hand, although they remain formally “alive”, in parliamentary language, waiting to see if there is any possibility of negotiating any of their aspects before the Justice commission on Tuesday the 23rd or even in plenary. of Congress on Tuesday the 30th. The idea of the Government and the PSOE is to accelerate this process as much as possible so that the final project is sent to the Senate. The PP, which has an absolute majority in that Chamber, has already warned that it will try to stop and retain the law there for at least two months.
The lawyers' report
During this Thursday's session in the Justice commission, the Vox spokesperson has appealed to the critical report of the lawyers – a team of three experts whose head is the lawyer Piedad García-Escudero – and has denounced that its content was not known until on Wednesday, the eve of the meeting, suggesting that he had been withheld by the House speaker. This complaint was made on Wednesday by the PP, which asked the Presidency for explanations. But it was the lawyer herself, according to parliamentary sources, who clarified the issue: Piedad García-Escudero, a lawyer in the Cortes since 1981 and sister of the former president of the PP Senate Pío García-Escudero, has intervened to settle that debate explaining that no one had withheld nothing and that his report had been provided to all the committee's rapporteurs at the same time the meeting had been called, as is always done.
The eight amendments that have been successful have been those that the PSOE had negotiated and closed in recent days with some of its usual partners and especially with Sumar, ERC, EH Bildu and BNG. These texts had also been agreed upon with Junts, with the idea of processing them all jointly, but in the end Carles Puigdemont's party withdrew from that agreement.
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In one of the eight amendments, number 43 and which revises article 4 of the law, it is specified that it will be “the judicial bodies that, at all times, are hearing the case” that will apply the lifting of the precautionary measures and of the arrest warrants for those granted amnesty, and those who will order “the immediate release of the people benefiting from the amnesty who were in prison.” In the original wording of the law, the same was said but stating that the lifting of the precautionary measures would be dictated by “the competent judicial body”, without specifying that this is the one that is handling the case at all times. Furthermore, the amendment specifies that those amnestied who are in prison will be released “either because their provisional detention has been decreed or they are serving a sentence.” In the vote on this amendment, ERC, which had voted in favor of the others, abstained.
The general secretary of the PP, Cuca Gamarra, present at the presentation, regretted that the proposed amnesty law continues to be processed despite the lawyers' report, and has warned of its possible unconstitutionality: “The only thing that could be done with This law, after the forcefulness of the report of the lawyers of this commission, is to stop here this authentic nonsense, to stop here this indignity that means that we Spaniards are seeing how impunity is given and how a political caste is generated in our country in exchange for a handful of votes that keep Pedro Sánchez in power, no more, no less,” he stated. Gamarra has denounced that the socialists look the other way: “The PSOE is not put in front of anything when it comes to paying the price to its partners to remain in power.”
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