Overview

• The appeal challenges the February 2025 ruling by Barcelona's Provincial Court, which upheld amnesty for 46 police officers involved in the 2017 Catalan referendum crackdown.
• The groups claim the officers' actions, described as humiliating and punitive, meet the severity threshold for torture or degrading treatment excluded from the amnesty law.
• The investigating judge in July 2024 had noted the officers' conduct was 'objectively suited to humiliate or degrade' but applied the 'olvido penal' amnesty mechanism.
• The NGOs argue the court's interpretation of the severity threshold was restrictive and misaligned with European human rights standards.
• Òmnium, ANC, and Irídia plan to exhaust domestic legal avenues and explore international forums to seek accountability for alleged human rights violations.