Exiled Catalan separatist leader Carles Puigdemont has challenged a Spanish court ruling denying him amnesty for embezzlement of public funds.
The Brussels Times reports that Puigdemont’s lawyer filed an appeal on Monday to the decision handed down last week byf the Spanish Supreme Court. On July 1st, Supreme Court Judge Pablo Llarena ruled Puigdemont’s embezzlement charges could not be forgiven under the recently passed amnesty law because the law excluded cases where the embezzler had benefited personally from the misappropriation of public funds. Llarent found that Puigdemont benefited personally by using public money from the regional government for what was, in essence, a personal, if also political, cause.
The controversial amnesty law for Catalan separatists was passed just weeks ago—and was written and passed with Puigdemont foremost in mind. Despite this, the Supreme Court has rejected his petition for amnesty for his crimes of embezzling public money. The same request on behalf of three other key Catalan separatist leaders was also dismissed, dashing their hopes of re-entering Spanish politics.
In 2017, Puigdemont was the regional president of Catalonia. He used that role to organize an illegal referendum on the region’s independence from Spain and then declared the region independent. His declaration was unsuccessful; he fled the country shortly thereafter and has remained a fugitive of Spanish justice in Belgium ever since.
Puigdemont could also face charges of treason that are outside of the amnesty law. His dealings with Russia as a possible funder and supporter of the Catalan independence cause are currently under investigation and could lead to formal charges of treason.
