The Supreme Court of Spain has confirmed its decision not to grant amnesty to former Catalan President Carles Puigdemont and former Minister Antoni Comín for charges of embezzlement. This ruling opens the path for both politicians to appeal to the Constitutional Court regarding their cases. The Appeals Chamber rejected their previous attempts to nullify the earlier ruling from April, which also denied the application of the Amnesty Law to their cases.

Puigdemont had accused the Supreme Court of maintaining a ‘virulent resistance’ against applying the amnesty law, calling for an annulment of the decision to redirect the matter to the Superior Court of Justice of Catalonia. His lawyer acknowledged that the legal process necessitated this ‘vacuum procedural step’, indicating a clear intention to ultimately proceed to the Constitutional Court.

With the Supreme Court now dismissing their nullity claims, both Puigdemont and Comín can indeed proceed to the Constitutional Court, following in the footsteps of other politicians like Oriol Junqueras and Dolors Bassa, who have already made similar appeals. Their cases are unlikely to be resolved before the autumn.

In its ruling, the Supreme Court highlighted that the arguments presented by Puigdemont had been repeatedly deemed unsatisfactory, reiterating that the appeals did not introduce new grounds for debate and were merely restating previously rejected claims.