Spanish Constitutional Court backs amnesty for Catalan leaders in 7-5 vote

Constitutional Court majority rejects conservative draft

Spain's Constitutional Court moved to extend the 2024 amnesty law to embezzlement charges on 22 September 2026, rejecting an initial proposal drafted by conservative magistrate José María Macías. During the plenary session, the court's seven-member progressive majority led by court president Cándido Conde-Pumpido overruled the five conservative magistrates who sought to uphold the Supreme Court's refusal of amnesty for former Catalan regional minister Jordi Turull.

Facing a minority within the chamber, Macías agreed to withdraw his draft and take responsibility for authoring a new resolution that grants constitutional protection to Turull, while reserving the right to issue a separate dissenting opinion.

In his initial draft submitted ahead of the plenary, José María Macías argued that the Supreme Court had acted within established jurisprudence when denying amnesty to Catalan leaders:

The interpretation carried out by the Second Chamber of the Supreme Court cannot be described as surprising or unpredictable, and much less as capricious or the result of alleged animosity toward the appellant, but rather conforms to current doctrine on the elements of the criminal offense of embezzlement.

Legal dispute over embezzlement and European rulings

The legal dispute stems from the amnesty statute approved by the Spanish parliament in June 2024, which formed part of the political agreements securing Pedro Sánchez's investiture as prime minister in 2023. The Supreme Court's Second Chamber had previously refused to apply the measure to embezzlement convictions, arguing that diverting public funds to stage the 1 October 2017 independence referendum constituted personal enrichment because the leaders avoided paying for their political project out of their own pockets.

Turull, who currently serves as secretary general of Junts per Catalunya, was sentenced to 12 years in prison by the Supreme Court in 2019, the second longest sentence in the trial after that of Oriol Junqueras. Although the Spanish government granted Turull a partial pardon in 2021 that lifted his prison term, his sentence barring him from holding public office remains in effect. The Constitutional Court's deliberation follows a ruling by the Court of Justice of the European Union, which determined that the 2017 referendum did not affect the financial interests of the European Union, removing a key argument that the Supreme Court had cited to deny amnesty.

Road to October vote and implications for Puigdemont

The Constitutional Court plans to formally vote on the newly drafted resolution for Turull during its plenary session scheduled for 6 October 2026. On that same day, court president Cándido Conde-Pumpido is set to present his own draft proposing constitutional protection for former Catalan regional minister Dolors Bassa.

The legal doctrine established through Turull's case will govern subsequent appeals submitted by other convicted separatist leaders, including former vice president Oriol Junqueras and former regional minister Raül Romeva. The progressive majority's stance also prepares the legal basis for the Supreme Court to lift the outstanding domestic arrest warrant against former Catalan regional president Carles Puigdemont, who has resided in Waterloo, Belgium, since the unilateral declaration of independence in late 2017.