Spanish Supreme Court judge Pablo Llarena has revoked the national arrest warrant for Carles Puigdemont after Spain’s Constitutional Court endorsed applying the amnesty law linked to Catalan’s independence drive that culminated in a 2017 referendum. The decision removes one of the main legal hurdles to the former president of Catalonia’s regional government returning to Spain.
Llarena’s move follows a Constitutional Court ruling in favour of former Catalan regional minister Dolors Bassa.
Until now, the Supreme Court had refused to apply the amnesty, a 2024 law covering those prosecuted over the “procés”, to embezzlement connected to the bid for independence. The Constitutional Court rejected that approach when it upheld Bassa’s appeal.
Puigdemont had faced arrest if he returned to Spain. Lifting that measure substantially alters his legal situation and opens the door to his return.
The core issue was whether the use of public funds to finance the 1 October 2017 independence referendum could be covered by the amnesty law. The Supreme Court ruled that it could not, arguing that its organisers had obtained a personal financial benefit. The Constitutional Court has now rejected that interpretation and in turn the Supreme Court has lifted the arrest warrant.
What does this mean for Puigdemont?
Llarena’s decision has an immediate consequence for Puigdemont. The former Catalan president has lived outside Spain since October 2017, when he left the country following the application of article 155 of the Spanish Constitution, which allowed the central government in Madrid to take direct control of the region.
The adoption of the amnesty law in 2024 opened up the prospect of his definitive return. However, Llarena initially kept the national arrest warrant active.
Puigdemont made a brief return to Barcelona in August 2024 to take part in an event coinciding with the investiture of Salvador Illa as Catalonia’s regional president. He appeared in public and later left Spain without being arrested.
Puigdemont has called a press conference on Tuesday evening at Waterloo, Belgium, where he lives, for an “institutional declaration” at 6pm CET, alongside former regional ministers Antoni Comín and Lluís Puig, according to Infobae.