Puigdemont Can Return to Spain After 9 Years as Warrant Lifted
Judge Pablo Llarena stood by his Oct. 6 order revoking the warrants for Puigdemont and two former Catalan Cabinet ministers, Antoni Comin and Lluis Puig, and dismissed an appeal filed by the far-right Vox party.
Llarena said a recent Constitutional Court ruling opened the door to applying Spain’s amnesty law to the three men.
He cautioned, however, that his decision dealt strictly with the warrants. It did not amount to a formal grant of amnesty for Puigdemont, he said. The Supreme Court’s criminal chamber will rule on whether the criminal case against him should be dropped.
Monday’s decision flows from a Constitutional Court judgment in favor of former Catalan Labor Minister Dolors Bassa. That judgment overturned the Supreme Court’s reading on whether embezzlement tied to the 2017 independence referendum fell outside the amnesty law’s scope.
Llarena conceded that the Constitutional Court’s interpretation is binding, but he criticized its reasoning and defended the Supreme Court’s earlier stance.
Puigdemont headed Catalonia’s regional government during the 2017 referendum and the unilateral declaration of independence that followed. He fled to Belgium that October to evade prosecution and has stayed abroad ever since. In August 2024, he made a brief appearance in Barcelona to address supporters before slipping away again without being detained.
Spain’s parliament passed the amnesty law in 2024 under a deal between Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez’s Socialist Party and Puigdemont’s Junts party. Junts’ parliamentary backing helped Sanchez win another term after the 2023 general election.
The Supreme Court had earlier declined to extend the amnesty to Puigdemont’s embezzlement charge, reasoning that the alleged misuse of public money involved personal financial gain. The Constitutional Court later rejected that reasoning, clearing the way for the amnesty to cover his case.
Last week, Puigdemont urged the Supreme Court to apply the amnesty law immediately and permanently close the proceedings against him.
He made no public comment on Monday’s ruling. Spanish media, citing sources, reported that he plans to return only once amnesty has been formally granted.
The ruling lands amid political uncertainty in Spain, after Sanchez called an early general election for Nov. 29.
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