Puigdemont, Junqueras and the minor charges of the 'process', among the more than 40 possible beneficiaries of an amnesty

Both will have a free hand to run for the 2025 Catalan elections

The demands of Junts so that Pedro Sánchez can repeat in La Moncloa have placed the possibility of drawing up a law to amnesty the 'procés' at the center of the political debate. If so, and in the event that the constitutional filter passes, among the potential beneficiaries would be the fugitives and those convicted of 1-O -such as former president Carles Puigdemont and his former 'number two' Oriol Junqueras- and the minor charges implicated in the illegal referendum.

Although the constitutional experts and the legal sources consulted by Europa Press insist that everything will depend on the wording of the eventual amnesty law, which will be the one that establishes the forgiven acts, the scope of its consequences and who will determine in each case the persons specific to which it can be applied, the truth is that more than 40 possible beneficiaries can already be glimpsed.

All in all, the first group of potential beneficiaries is that of the 1-O fugitives, beginning with Puigdemont --prosecuted after the repeal of sedition for disobedience and embezzlement--, who has been on the run for six years settled in his Belgian residence in Waterloo . Together with him, the former directors Clara Ponsatí, Toni Comín and Lluis Puig, and the general secretary of ERC, Marta Rovira, also fled and prosecuted, would see their alleged criminal responsibilities extinguished.

The amnesty for the events that led to October 1, 2017 could also affect the former CUP deputy in Parliament Anna Gabriel, who was on the run until last year, when she voluntarily appeared in the Supreme Court. Prosecuted for disobedience, the high court sent her case to the Barcelona Court.

The second large group of hypothetical winners would be those convicted of the 'procés', since the Government pardoned them in 2021 the prison sentences they received in 2019 for crimes of sedition and embezzlement, but kept their disqualification sentences in force.

Of the 12 convicted, only Junqueras, Raül Romeva, Jordi Turull and Dolors Bassa remain disqualified, since the Supreme Court extinguished the disqualification sentences imposed on Carmen Forcadell, Jordi Sánchez, Jordi Cuixart, Josep Rull and Joaquín Forn after reviewing their sentences due to the reform that repealed sedition and modified embezzlement. As for the other three sentenced for 1-O --Meritxell Borrás, Carles Mundó and Santiago Vila--, they have already served their sentences.

Miguel Presno Linera, an expert in constitutional law and professor at the University of Oviedo, explained in statements to Europa Press that an amnesty law "could make the facts and the legal consequences derived from them disappear", which would imply that "those who have not been tried cannot be and that those convicted do not serve their sentences", which would include those not pardoned.

Xavier Arbós, professor of constitutional law at the University of Barcelona, ​​agrees that the extinction of the disqualification sentences for Junqueras and the others "depends on what the amnesty law says, on what its scope establishes." And this because "the amnesty has the content that the legislator wants to give it", with the only limit imposed by international treaties due to the imprescriptibility of crimes against humanity, such as torture.

In this scenario, Junqueras - who is currently disqualified until 2031 - could run in the next Catalan elections, scheduled for 2025, if the amnesty law demanded by Junts finally saw the light and received the approval of the Constitutional Court (TC ). Once this obstacle (not a minor one) has been overcome, the legal sources questioned insist: "If the possibility of amnesty is considered constitutional, there are no limits."

PREPARATIONS FOR 1-O

To the big names of the 'procés' are added other lesser known ones that could also be favored by an amnesty. Notable are the Catalan Minister of Culture, Natàlia Garriga; the president of ERC in the Parliament and former general secretary of the Vice-presidency and Economy of the Generalitat, Josep Maria Jové, and the also deputy and former secretary of Finance, Lluís Salvadó, awaiting trial in the TSJ of Catalonia (TSJC) for preparations for 1-O.

According to the judicial investigation, Jové - a member of the Catalan delegation at the dialogue table between Moncloa and the Government - disregarded the mandates of the Constitutional Court against the organization of the independence referendum; he would have obtained personal data from Catalans irregularly to prepare a census; he "actively" participated in the search for places to vote; and on his computer there were files like 'model ballot'.

Among the evidence against Jové and Salvadó, the instructor details that they made presentations to other states and organizations to obtain financing, and also that the Tax Agency was provided with the e-Spriu system, capable of collecting, managing and executing taxes for which " "there were no powers" such as personal income tax, VAT or corporations.

The instructor also believes that Salvadó devised a program to standardize the internal mechanisms for processing taxes and social contributions that the Generalitat paid to the State, to "control and have the maximum possible information on taxpayers and on the quotas paid for taxes unceded states".

Added to them are the 30 prosecuted in another case by the Investigative Court Number 13 of Barcelona for crimes of embezzlement, disobedience, prevarication, revelation of secrets and falsification of documents, also for the preparations for the illegal referendum.

Likewise, the Minister of Foreign Action of the Generalitat, Meritxell Serret, who was on the run but in 2021 turned herself in to the Supreme Court and finally last April was sentenced by the TSJC to one year of disqualification for disobedience in the organization and the celebration of 1- Or, you could see your grief disappear.