The Supreme Court has granted amnesty this Friday to eight people convicted of disobedience or public disorder, including former Sabadell mayor Maties Serracant and former Parliament president Roger Torrent.
The Supreme Court has applied the amnesty law this Friday to eight people convicted of disobedience or public disorder related to the Catalan independence process. Among those benefiting is the former mayor of Sabadell, Maties Serracant, who was fined €1,800 for a serious disobedience offence for allowing municipal public facilities to be used for the voting of the referendum on October 1, 2017.
The High Court's decision comes after the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) endorsed the amnesty law last week, considering that it does not violate community legislation or the financial interests of the Union. The CJEU also ruled out that the law is contrary to the European directive on terrorism, paving the way for its application in Spain.
In addition to Serracant, the Supreme Court has granted amnesty to four former leaders of the Catalan Parliament: the former president of the chamber, Roger Torrent, and former members of the Board Josep Costa, Eusebi Campdepadrós, and Adriana Delgado. The four had been acquitted by the High Court of Justice of Catalonia (TSJC), but the Supreme Court had appealed that decision and the cases were pending resolution.
The amnesty also extends to three more citizens. Two of them were sentenced to a year and a half in prison for throwing stones during the protests in October 2019, following the announcement of the verdict in the procés case. The third, who was serving a four-year prison sentence for public disorder, was found guilty of throwing stones and bottles at officers, assisting in the construction of a barricade, and stoking a fire started by others, all while wearing a balaclava.
In Serracant's case, the former mayor of Sabadell was sentenced in 2021 by the High Court of Justice of Catalonia to pay a fine of €1,800, as it was proven that he allowed the use of municipal facilities for the voting of 1-O, despite the suspension ordered by the Constitutional Court. The Supreme Court's decision to apply the amnesty extinguishes his criminal liability and exempts him from paying the fine.
The application of the amnesty by the Supreme Court represents a significant step in the execution of the law, which has been the subject of intense political and legal debate since its approval. The court has issued several orders declaring the criminal liability of the eight amnestied individuals extinguished, considering that their actions fall within the provisions of the law.
For the residents of Sabadell, the amnesty for Serracant closes a judicial chapter that has lasted for years. The former mayor, who governed the city from 2017 to 2019, always defended that his actions were within the law and that there was no disobedience. Now, with the extinction of his sentence, he will be able to fully recover his political rights.
The Supreme Court has reminded in its orders that the amnesty applies to all those convicted of disobedience and public disorder linked to the procés, as long as the exceptions provided for in the law do not apply. The decision this Friday sets a precedent for other similar cases that are still pending in the courts.
The news has been received with satisfaction by the independence parties, who consider the amnesty a necessary step for political normalisation in Catalonia. For their part, the constitutionalist parties have criticised the decision, arguing that it constitutes a violation of the rule of law. The debate over the amnesty and its political and legal consequences will continue in the coming months.
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