Spanish Supreme Court Judge Confirms Puigdemont Arrest Warrant Withdrawn, Rejecting Vox Appeal: Exiled Leader Can Return After Nearly Nine Years Without Arrest, but Formal Amnesty Still Undecided
Madrid — Catalan separatist leader Carles Puigdemont can return to Spain without being arrested after a Supreme Court judge on Monday (October 19) confirmed the withdrawal of an arrest warrant for him, nearly nine years after he fled the country following a failed independence bid, Anadolu Agency reported.
Judge Pablo Llarena upheld his Oct. 6 decision to lift the arrest warrants for Puigdemont and former Catalan Cabinet Ministers Antoni Comin and Lluis Puig, rejecting an appeal by the far-right Vox party. The judge said a recent Constitutional Court ruling meant Spain's amnesty law could apply to their cases. The ruling follows a Constitutional Court decision in favor of former Catalan Labor Minister Dolors Bassa, which rejected the Supreme Court's interpretation of whether embezzlement linked to the 2017 independence referendum was excluded from Spain's amnesty law. Llarena acknowledged that the Constitutional Court's interpretation was binding, although he criticized its reasoning and defended the Supreme Court's previous position. The Supreme Court had previously refused to apply the amnesty to Puigdemont's embezzlement charge, arguing that the alleged misuse of public funds involved a personal financial benefit.
However, he stressed that the decision only concerned the arrest warrants and did not mean Puigdemont had been formally granted amnesty. A final decision on whether to dismiss the criminal proceedings against him must be made by the Supreme Court's criminal chamber. Last week, Puigdemont asked the Supreme Court to apply the amnesty law without further delay and definitively close the proceedings against him. He did not publicly comment on Monday's ruling, and Spanish media cites sources saying he intends to return only if he has been formally granted amnesty.
Puigdemont, who led Catalonia's regional government during its 2017 independence referendum and subsequent unilateral declaration of independence, fled to Belgium that October to avoid prosecution. He has remained abroad since then, although he briefly returned to Barcelona in August 2024 to address supporters before leaving again without being arrested. Spain's parliament approved the amnesty law in 2024 following an agreement between Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez's Socialist Party and Puigdemont's Junts party, whose parliamentary support helped Sanchez secure another term after the 2023 general election. Monday's ruling also comes amid political uncertainty in Spain after Sanchez called an early general election for November 29.
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 普伊格德蒙特（左）与加泰罗尼亚议会主席 Josep Rull 合影资料图。照片：加泰罗尼亚议会（Parlament de Catalunya），CC BY，经维基共享资源。 / File photo: Carles Puigdemont (left) with Josep Rull, president of the Catalan parliament. Photo: Parlament de Catalunya, CC BY, via Wikimedia Commons.
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