Spain’s ruling Socialist Party and Catalan separatists reached an agreement on Tuesday to amend an amnesty law promised by Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez to secure another term in office.
The changes will provide further protection to separatists involved in Catalonia’s failed bid for independence in 2017, particularly Carles Puigdemont, head of the hardline secessionist party XXSCat, who was Catalonia’s regional leader at the time. become.
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Spain’s ruling Socialist Party and Catalan separatists reached an agreement on Tuesday to amend an amnesty law promised by Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez to secure another term in office.
The changes will provide further protection to separatists involved in Catalonia’s failed bid for independence in 2017, particularly Carles Puigdemont, head of the hardline secessionist party XXSCat, who was Catalonia’s regional leader at the time. become.
The draft amnesty law, which has not yet been approved by parliament, covers all events related to the Catalan independence movement from 2012 to the present, including the symbolic vote in 2014 and the 2017 referendum marred by violence. It is targeted.
Mr. Sánchez received significant parliamentary support from JuxCat and its more moderate separatist wing, the ERC, in a key vote in November to reappoint him as prime minister at the head of a left-wing minority government. In exchange, he agreed to amnesty.
Justice Minister Felix Bolanos told a news conference that the government had agreed on two technical amendments with “parliamentary groups supporting the passage of the amnesty law.”
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He said that under the agreement, terrorism charges would only apply to those covered by the amnesty law “if they relate to serious human rights violations.”
Puigdemont fled to Belgium at the end of 2017 to avoid prosecution for failing to bid for independence, but the amnesty will allow him to return to his home country.
He is suspected of having ties to the Democratic Tsunami Protest Group, which was active in 2019 after nine Catalan leaders were sentenced to long prison sentences for their role in the 2017 referendum. He faces possible charges of terrorism. They were later pardoned.
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The group blocked major highways and tried to close Barcelona’s airport, Spain’s second busiest.
Al/DS/HMW/Yado