Spain Supreme Court revokes Carles Puigdemont arrest warrant following Constitutional Court amnesty ruling

Constitutional Court ruling and warrant revocation

Spain's Supreme Court judge Pablo Llarena revoked the national arrest warrant for former Catalan regional president Carles Puigdemont on 6 October 2026. The decision followed a 7 to 5 ruling by Spain's Constitutional Court, which ordered that the 2024 amnesty law must cover public fund embezzlement charges linked to the October 2017 independence referendum. The ruling resolved an appeal brought by former Catalan labour minister Dolors Bassa of Esquerra Republicana. The Constitutional Court found that the Supreme Court had breached the right to effective judicial protection by interpreting the exception for personal enrichment in a contradictory manner. The measure also rescinds active warrants against former Catalan ministers Toni Comín and Lluís Puig.

Resolution of embezzlement charges and legal arguments

The dispute centered on whether public money spent on organizing the 2017 vote constituted personal enrichment. The Supreme Court previously maintained that avoiding personal expense by using regional government funds delivered an illicit personal benefit. The progressive majority on the Constitutional Court rejected that standard, noting that the statutory amnesty text explicitly separates personal enrichment from funds used to prepare, conduct, and finance the secessionist vote. Five conservative judges on the bench dissented, arguing that the majority had improperly substituted the functions of ordinary criminal courts. The ruling directs the Supreme Court to issue new decisions discharging the embezzlement convictions and lifting public office disqualifications, including the ban against former Catalan vice president Oriol Junqueras that extended to 2031.

Political fallout and snap election campaign

The court decision alters the political landscape ahead of the snap general elections scheduled for 29 November 2026. Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez dissolved the legislature after losing parliamentary support from Puigdemont's party, Junts, which had supplied the seven decisive votes for his investiture in 2023. The collapse followed the defeat of government housing decrees on Friday by a combined vote of the Popular Party, Vox, and Junts. Sánchez defended his administration's legal path following the ruling:

We defended the pardons and the amnesty, and time has proved us right. We must look forward and learn from the mistakes, which have been many.

Opposition parties criticized the legal resolution as a political concession. Lorena Roldán, spokesperson for the Popular Party in Catalonia, condemned the ruling:

Sánchez's legislature began with blackmail, the purchase of seven votes in exchange for the amnesty, and ends with the payment of the final bill.

Return scenarios for Puigdemont

Puigdemont has resided in Belgium since late October 2017, having avoided arrest for nearly nine years while serving as a member of the European Parliament between 2019 and 2024. The sedition charge against him was previously repealed in 2023 through government legislative reforms. Legal avenues outlined in Catalan media suggest three possible paths for his physical return to Spain: entering immediately after the warrant revocation, waiting until the investigating magistrate formalizes the case closure, or returning once the Criminal Chamber issues its final decree. The lifting of political disqualifications also enables former Catalan leaders to explore potential candidacies for the November election.