Overview
- The Constitutional Court ruled on Tuesday that Spain’s 2024 amnesty applies to the accusation that public funds were misused for the 2017 Catalan referendum, overturning the Supreme Court’s narrower reading.
- Following that decision, Supreme Court investigating judge Pablo Llarena lifted the national arrest warrant for Carles Puigdemont, removing the primary legal obstacle to his return from Belgian exile.
- The European Court of Justice had already found in July that EU law does not block Spain’s amnesty, leaving the Constitutional Court ruling as the decisive domestic step to clear cases tied to the referendum.
- Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez welcomed the outcome as a move to ease tensions in Catalonia, while opponents say the timing risks electoral fallout ahead of the November vote and may fuel attacks by right‑wing parties.
- The decision closes the long legal arc that began with the 2017 illegal referendum, when rebellion and uprising charges were later dropped or abolished and the remaining charge of alleged embezzlement became the central issue.