The BOE publishes the law that eliminates sedition and modifies embezzlement, which will enter into force on January 12

MADRID, 23 Dic. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The Official State Gazette (BOE) has published this Friday the organic law definitively approved yesterday by the Senate with which the crime of sedition is eliminated from the Penal Code and the embezzlement is modified, a norm that will enter into force after 20 days of its publication in the law journal, that is, on January 12.

This is Organic Law 14/2022, of December 22, transposing European directives and other provisions for the adaptation of criminal legislation to the European Union, and reform of crimes against moral integrity, public disorder and dual-use weapons smuggling.

The approved norm derives from the bill promoted by the PSOE and Unidas Podemos, and which has been processed in Congress and the Senate in just six weeks and had as its main objective to suppress the crime of sedition for which the independence leaders of the 'procés' were convicted ', to replace it with a new type called aggravated public disorder, although other measures were also added, such as the aggravation of the sentence for concealment of the corpse.

When the time came to present amendments to the articles in Congress, the PSOE and Unidas Podemos introduced other matters such as a new crime of legal enrichment, at the same time that they agreed with ERC on a modification of the penalties for embezzlement: when there is a profit motive, maintaining the current penalties (2 to 12 jail terms and 6 to 20 disqualification); and two new types: one non-profit for "private uses" (from 6 months to 3 years in prison and disqualification from 1 to 4 years) and another for when the embezzled goes to a purpose other than that intended (from 1 to 4 years in prison and 2 to 6 years of disqualification).

The Plenary Session of the Senate definitively approved the bill this Thursday, but without the amendments that sought to reform the system of election and arrival of the two candidates to the Constitutional Court who must be appointed by the General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ), since the court of guarantees suspended them.

The reform of the Penal Code went ahead in the Upper House with a majority made up of PSOE, ERC, Bildu, PNV and Més per Mallorca. It was rejected by PP, Vox, Ciudadanos, UPN, Junts, PRC, Coalición Canaria, Teruel Existe, PAR and the two independent parliamentarians. For their part, Más Madrid, Geroa Bai and Compromís chose to abstain.

The groups that support the Government -Unidas Podemos does not have representation in the Senate- also rejected the five vetoes presented to the bill and all the partial amendments in the Upper House.

Before, in Congress the government coalition partners plus ERC, PNV, PDeCAT, Más País and Bildu supported the reform, despite the fact that the nationalist coalition had chosen to abstain during the process in the Justice Commission. In plenary, the only abstention carried the signature of the Compromís deputy, Joan Baldoví, who had expressed his doubts about the changes in the crime of embezzlement because he fears that it could benefit those convicted of corruption.

Junts, the CUP, the Canary Islands Coalition, BNG, Foro Asturias, Navarra Suma, Teruel Existe, the Regionalist Party of Cantabria, Vox and the PP deputy Valentina Martínez voted against. For their part, PP and Ciudadanos decided not to participate in the vote.

This bill also included one of the historical demands of the Spanish Lawyers, that the Christmas holiday period be non-working days for the courts and tribunals. This reform affects the Organic Law of the Judiciary (LOPJ) and has already entered into force, so it will not have to wait until 2023.