The former president of the Generalitat of Catalonia, Carles Puigdemont, has asked the Supreme Court (TS) to remove Judge Pablo Llarena – in charge of investigating him for an alleged crime of disobedience and embezzlement – for speaking out, in an event held on 11 September, on the “constitutionality” of a possible amnesty to the process.
In the letter, to which Europa Press has had access, the defense of the independence leader has insisted on an argument that has already been used on previous occasions against the magistrate: “His absolute lack of impartiality.”
Puigdemont’s legal team, headed by lawyer Gonzalo Boye, has stated in its letter that “various media outlets” reported that “on September 11, 2023, the Investigating Magistrate had stated that there may be a question of the constitutionality of a possible and future amnesty law”.
In this sense, the defense has stressed that Llarena’s statement on the “constitutionality” of “a law that does not even exist” reflects an “a priori position of who, if necessary, should rule on it if it comes to pass.” to be promulgated”. Along the same lines, he has also disgraced the magistrate for saying that it would be necessary to “see if the possible law (of amnesty) is legitimate or if it is justified.”
“We do not know since when the jurisdictional function involves the evaluation of the legitimacy of the norms that emanate from the Legislative Branch, but it seems that the lack of impartiality leads the Honorable Magistrate-President to question, even, the legitimacy of the norms that may arrive to create, or not, the representatives of popular sovereignty,” Puigdemont pointed out in his writing.
For the defense, “none of the approaches expressed” by Llarena are “typical” of “who is called to act with impartiality.” Thus, the former president has insisted that “it is evident” that the instructor “concurs the causes of abstention – which he did not use – and of recusal” that he now raises before the Criminal Chamber to remove him from the procedure that was continues against him in the Supreme Court.
This same Tuesday, Puigdemont has presented a second brief before the high court in which he appeals Llarena’s decision to ask the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) to clarify whether the independence leader had appealed the ruling by which the General Court of the EU withdrew his European parliamentary immunity.
This is not the first time that Puigdemont has demanded that Llarena be removed. In January, when the magistrate agreed to prosecute him for disobedience and embezzlement, the former Catalan president urged the instructor to withdraw from the case and annul all decisions taken since he has been an MEP. He also urged him to refer the case to an investigative court in Barcelona.
Puigdemont then indicated that Llarena, in order to prosecute him, had ‘skipped’ the Supreme Court’s own jurisprudence, ‘creating’ an ‘ad hoc’ situation for the Catalan independence MEPs. In addition, he recalled cases of other political leaders who, despite having an indictment, were released after being elected as deputies or senators.
