A Spanish judge on Tuesday lifted an arrest warrant for exiled Catalan former separatist leader Carles Puigdemont, paving the way for his return to Spain ahead of a general election in November.
Supreme Court judge Pablo Llarena made the move after Spain’s Constitutional Court backed extending a 2024 amnesty law to include the crime of embezzlement.
The law was aimed at easing tensions in the wealthy northeastern region following its failed 2017 independence bid, Spain’s worst political crisis in decades.
Around 400 people involved in the independence push have benefited from the amnesty, but Puigdemont, who headed Catalonia’s regional government when it held a banned independence referendum and attempted to secede from Spain, had been excluded.
Puigdemont was accused of using public funds to organise the referendum, which the courts had said amounted to embezzlement.
He fled to Belgium in 2017 to avoid detention after the referendum and remained the subject of an arrest warrant.
Spain’s Supreme Court initially ruled that the amnesty law did not apply to those, including Puigdemont, investigated for embezzlement.
Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez welcomed the lifting of the warrant, saying it would allow Catalonia to “look to the future”.
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“We should celebrate that this also helps Catalan society, as it has been demanding throughout this time,” he added at a Madrid news conference.
Puigdemont is scheduled to speak at 6:00 pm (1600 GMT) from his residence in Waterloo, near Brussels, where he is expected to say when and how he plans to return to Spain.
He briefly returned to Barcelona in August 2024 after almost seven years in exile, appearing before thousands of supporters and vowing to continue the fight for Catalan independence.
He then disappeared before the regional parliament’s vote to install Socialist Salvador Illa as Catalonia’s leader, evading a police operation to arrest him before returning to Belgium.
‘Must be punished’
Both his parents died in Spain while he was in exile, and he was unable to attend their funerals.
The amnesty law was passed to secure the backing of Catalan separatist parties, whose support allowed Sánchez to remain in power after a 2023 election produced no clear majority.
Spain’s right fiercely opposed the amnesty, with the mainstream conservative Popular Party (PP) and far-right Vox arguing it undermined the rule of law.
The two parties frequently accused Sánchez of trading political support for the votes of Catalan separatists and staged large protests against the amnesty law.
While PP leader Alberto Núñez Feijóo said he “respected” the Supreme Court’s decision, he again criticised the amnesty law, calling it a “deception”.
“Selling favours in exchange for power must be punished at the ballot box. Spain finally deserves a government that puts truth, the law and equality for all Spaniards first,” he wrote on X.
Puigdemont’s Junts party later withdrew support for the government, accusing Sánchez of failing to fulfil commitments, including the amnesty for its leader.
Junts on Friday voted against housing relief measures proposed by Sánchez’s minority government amid nationwide protests. The party’s seven seats were key for passage of the decrees.
The defeat of the measures led Sánchez on Monday to call a snap vote for November 29th. The next general election was due by August 2027.
Since Puigdemont fled, Junts has seen its support decline as the Catalan independence movement has lost momentum and a new far-right separatist party, Alianca Catalana, has emerged as a rival.
