Spanish justice drops main charge against Puigdemont

Spanish justice on Thursday dropped the main charge against Catalan separatist Carles Puigdemont for his role in the 2017 secession attempt, after the entry into force of a controversial penal reform by the left in power.

If Carles Puigdemont, who fled to Belgium to escape legal proceedings, is one day tried in Spain, this criminal reclassification of the facts could lead to a lighter sentence against him.

Pablo Llarena, the judge prosecuting the former independence regional president,

indicated the Spanish Supreme Court in a press release.

"Public Disorder"

The offense of sedition, the main charge against Carles Puigdemont, has indeed been removed as part of the reform of the Penal Code adopted at the end of December by Parliament.

It was replaced by that of

, punishable by less severe penalties.

According to the magistrate, this new qualification cannot however be retained in the case of Carles Puigdemont, who will therefore only be tried if necessary for disobedience and embezzlement of public funds (embezzlement).

The controversial reform of the government of socialist Pedro Sanchez, intended to give pledges to the Catalan separatist movement, part of which supports the executive, has also led to a reduction in sentences for this last qualification.

This offense is thus punishable by one to four years in prison if there was no desire to enrich themselves.

However, Judge Llarena considers that Carles Puigdemont is not entitled to benefit from this reduction.

If a desire to enrich themselves is proven, the maximum penalty for embezzlement of public funds can climb up to twelve years in prison in Spain.

, declared Carles Puigdemont in the evening, suggesting that he would not return to Spain until European justice does not will not have decided in his favor by restoring his MEP immunity.

Read alsoThe first steps of Carles Puigdemont in the European Parliament

"We are coming to the end of the legal battle in Europe and I will fight it to the end (...) I will not return (to Spain) in handcuffs or by going before a Spanish judge",

he added .

.

His lawyer, Gonzalo Boye, indicated that European justice could render its decision at the end of February or in March.

With Carles Puigdemont at its head, the Catalan regional government had tried in October 2017 to secede from Spain by organizing a referendum of self-determination, prohibited by justice, before the local Parliament unilaterally declared the independence of the region. .

Madrid had then suspended the autonomy of the region while the separatist leaders had been imprisoned or had fled abroad like Carles Puigdemont.

"Red carpet"

Coming to power less than a year later, Pedro Sanchez has made appeasement in Catalonia one of his top priorities.

He thus resumed an open dialogue with part of the Catalan separatists, still in power in the region, and in 2021 pardoned the nine separatist leaders sentenced to sentences ranging from 9 to 13 years in prison for their role in the events of 2017. Under the penal reform of the government, the latter could benefit, for their part, from a review of their sentences and in particular of their ineligibility, which was not lifted within the framework of the government pardon.

This reform of the Penal Code was perceived as a very risky bet by Pedro Sanchez less than a year before the legislative elections.

The right, which is ahead of the Socialists in the polls, fired red balls at this text, which some Socialist barons themselves did not hesitate to criticize sharply.

, criticized Elias Bendodo, leader of the Popular Party (right) on Thursday.