The Catalonia High Court has made a significant ruling requesting a partial pardon for Laura Borràs, the former President of the Catalan Parliament. Borràs was sentenced to four and a half years in prison for her involvement in corruption, specifically for awarding contracts illegally to a friend. The court’s proposal focuses on pardoning only the time beyond two years of her sentence, which would enable her to avoid incarceration.

Additionally, the court has decided to suspend her prison sentence pending the decision on the partial pardon. This implies that Borràs will not serve time until the pardon request is resolved. She is also scheduled to appear before the tribunal on the fourth of April to receive notice regarding her prohibition from holding any public position and to pay a fine of thirty-six thousand euros.

The prosecution supported the suspension of her prison sentence, highlighting concerns regarding potential harm to Borràs should her request for clemency be granted. Nevertheless, it clarified that the pardon will not exempt her from a thirteen-year ineligibility to hold public office or from the imposed fine.

Borràs was convicted for awarding contracts valued at three hundred thirty-five thousand seven hundred euros while heading the Catalan Institute of Letters from twenty-thirteen to twenty-eighteen. Her lawyer has portrayed the court’s request for a pardon as a signal that Borràs’s conviction may not reflect the gravity of her offenses, as past reports had suggested she was not directly benefitting from the contracts awarded to her friend.