Alex Trelinski
THE lawyer of exiled ex-Catalunya president Carles Puigdemont says he will return to Spain once the new Amnesty Law hits the statute books- even at the risk of being arrested for terrorism.
Gonzalo Boye has also talked about his client heading up the list for the Junts party in May’s Catalan elections in a bid to become president once again.
Congress in Madrid on Thursday backed an amnesty bill for Catalan separatists by 178 votes to 172.
Justice Minister Felix Bolanos said the law would affect ‘around 400 people’ involved in an illegal Catalunya independence referendum in 2017.
It’s expected to be enacted towards the end of May.
As Catalan leader at the time, Puigdemont led the 2017 independence bid, fleeing to Brussels to avoid prosecution, while nine of his fellow secessionists who stayed in Spain were tried and jailed.
Three years ago, the Spanish government pardoned them.
Puigdemont’s lawyer, Gonzalo Boye, speaking on Friday in a radio interview, said that the Supreme Court will have to lift the arrest warrant against his client, although he acknowledged that he could be arrested.
He does not rule out a new arrest warrant for the so-called Tsunami Democratic case, in which he is being investigated for terrorism over protests linked to the 2017 referendum, but Boye insisted that ‘he will assume the consequences of his decisions’.
Despite not clarifying whether the former president will be a Junts party candidate in the regional elections on May 12, he did assume that if he quits his European Parliament seat, he will lose his legal immunity as an MEP.
“He may be arrested, but he is not going to be prevented from being president if he wants to be,” said the lawyer, after stressing that Puigdemont could be invested as Catalan president ‘if the law is interpreted correctly’.
READ MORE:
- Crucial victory for Pedro Sanchez as controversial amnesty law for Catalan separatists gets parliamentary backing in Spain
- Spain’s top court opens ‘terrorism probe’ into exiled Catalan ex-president Carles Puigdemont
