The PP promised last May that it would recover the crime of sedition and toughen the crime of embezzlement, repealed and reduced by the coalition government months ago with the support of its partners. This was announced by its leader, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, in various public speeches. The Popular Party also included the initiative in the electoral program for the general elections of June 23, which were precipitated shortly after. But on Wednesday, when registering their amendment to the entire amnesty law, they chose to go a step further and proposed the dissolution of parties that promote declarations of independence or an illegal referendum by introducing a series of crimes of "constitutional disloyalty" into the Penal Code, instead of recovering sedition and embezzlement as they were previously written. A decision that was explained on Thursday by the parliamentary spokesman of the PP, Miguel Tellado, in statements to the media in Congress. "The crime of sedition is included within this new concept, of constitutional disloyalty and, therefore, our approach is broader," he explained a day after registering his alternative text.

The amendment registered by the PP recovers articles 544 to 547 of the Penal Code, previously framed in the chapter on sedition. Although, in their case, the PP adds them to the title of crimes against the Constitution instead of against public order. Prior to the reform promoted by the Government in 2022, Article 544 defined sedition as a crime that persecutes those who rise up "publicly and tumultuously to prevent, by force or outside legal channels, the application of the laws or any authority, official corporation or public official, the legitimate exercise of their functions or the fulfillment of their agreements, or administrative or judicial decisions." Leaders of the Catalan independence process such as Oriol Junqueras, Raül Romeva, Jordi Turull and Carme Forcadell were convicted of sedition with sentences of up to 12 years in prison and then pardoned by Pedro Sánchez's government.

For its part, the new wording proposed by the PP focuses on punishing "the non-observance of the laws" or the "failure to comply with judicial resolutions" that threaten "the principles of unity and indivisibility of the Spanish nation" – that is, activities that promote declarations of independence – and those who promote "the calling of a referendum or any form of consultation with the citizens that is contrary to the requirements established by the Constitution".

The old sedition was punishable by imprisonment of up to 15 years if the crime was committed by "persons constituted in authority". While the Popular Party proposes prison sentences of five to 10 years and absolute disqualification for a period of six to 12 years when referring to declarations of independence, and one to five years in prison and special disqualification of one to five years for illegal referendums. Therefore, somewhat inferior. It is article 547 added by the PP that also imposes the dissolution of "the legal person" that is responsible for any of the previous crimes, that is, the parties.

Regarding the crime of embezzlement, Tellado has expressed that they are "against" the reduction of sentences, but that they have "the entire legislature" ahead of them to promote their return to the previous situation. And they have preferred to focus attention on the territorial question.

Legal Challenge

Legal experts consider the dissolution of parties for "disloyalty" to the system unconstitutional, as published this Thursday by EL PAÍS. Tellado also spoke out on Thursday about the criticism received from the legal field and various media in his editorials. "The criminal liability of political parties, of legal persons, has been included in our Penal Code since 2012. In Spain, no one is persecuted for their ideas, but for their actions if they are criminal," he said. Specifically, the PP refers to article 33.7 of the Penal Code, which imposes the "dissolution of the legal person" that carries out any kind of activity, even if it is lawful. The point is that the actions for which the Popular Party wants to punish the parties were not expressly stated before.

"We intend to rearm the State in the face of a possible threat from parties that want to carry out secessionist or independence processes from part of the national territory," Tellado said about the wording of the new type of constitutional disloyalty.

The Minister of the Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, assessed the PP's proposal during a press conference: "I think we already have a law on parties that has worked in this country. And, if we talk about constitutional disloyalty, I believe that the only constitutional disloyalty accredited for more than 1,800 days is that of the PP opposing the renewal of the General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ)," reports J. J. Gálvez.

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