Spain’s Constitutional Court on Thursday upheld an amnesty law benefiting Catalan separatists involved in the failed 2017 independence attempt, delivering a significant win for Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez’s leftist government.
The court rejected most of the constitutional challenges raised by the conservative Popular Party (PP) in a close six-to-four vote.
The amnesty applies to dozens of Catalan independence activists linked to the banned referendum and brief declaration of independence in Catalonia, which triggered one of Spain’s most serious political crises in decades.
The law was narrowly passed last year as part of a political deal to secure support from Catalan separatist parties for Sanchez’s government following the hung parliament result in the 2023 elections.
The government asserts the amnesty has helped restore political calm and normality to Catalonia after years of unrest and division. However, the measure has drawn sharp criticism from Spain’s right-wing opposition, which accuses Sanchez of sacrificing the rule of law by pardoning what they label a “coup” attempt to maintain power.
In its statement, the Constitutional Court ruled that the amnesty was not unconstitutional, noting it could be justified in “exceptional situations” serving a “legitimate end of public interest.” Sanchez hailed the ruling as a step toward closing a political crisis “that should never have left politics,” speaking from Brussels.
Popular Party leader Alberto Nunez Feijoo, also in Brussels, denounced the amnesty as a “corrupt transaction of impunity in exchange for power” and an assault on judicial independence.
While many figures from the independence movement are covered by the amnesty, it notably does not apply to former Catalan president Carles Puigdemont, who fled Spain to avoid prosecution.
The court did not clarify whether charges of embezzlement—one of the reasons for Puigdemont’s exclusion—fall under the amnesty law.
