After several days of talk, PSOE, Junts and Esquerra announced this Wednesday night that they had sealed an agreement to approve the Amnesty law. The three groups will introduce changes in the wording of criminal oblivion this Thursday in the Justice Commission of the Congress of Deputies, with a joint transactional amendment that contemplates that in the crimes of terrorism and high treason serious cases will be excluded and taken into account the drafting of their European law.
This means that the exception of terrorism, torture and high treason is included, but a distinction is made between what the Spanish Penal Code stipulates and European legislation. Thus, terrorism cannot be amnestied in the sense defined by the European Convention on Human Rights and the European directive on terrorism. In this way, acts of protest, such as the case of Tsunami Democràtic, even if they are investigated for terrorism in the National Court and the Supreme Court, would a priori be amnestiable. Something similar happens with the crime of high treason. The reference that appears in the Charter of the United Nations will be taken into account and that which “makes effective and real use of force for the unity of Spain” will be excluded from criminal oblivion, according to the sources consulted.
Likewise, it will be clear that the measure is of immediate effect and its application period is carried back in time from January 2012 to November 2011 to guarantee that those prosecuted in the Court of Auditors are protected. Another relevant aspect is that the embezzlement of public funds related to the process is amnestied if there is no personal gain; allocating funds to 1-O will be included in the norm.
All these modifications, as highlighted in the brief joint statement, take into account “the guidelines of constitutional, European and international law, as well as the preliminary report of the Venice Commission”, a document that was relevant to unblock the situation and facilitate understand it.
The pact arrives almost on the horn, when time was running out, and will allow the Government to move forward, change the screen and open the negotiation of the general budgets of the State for the current year and thus support the legislature at a very critical moment for the Executive of Pedro Sánchez, stalked by the Koldo case and the offensive of the Popular Party.
Approving the accounts will be essential to provide political and economic stability to a legislature that cannot shake off the label of uncertainty. In fact, the spokesperson for JxCat in the Senate, Josep Lluís Cleries, already made references this Wednesday to the budget issue to the Minister of Finance herself, Vice President María Jesús Montero. “If you want a legislature, we want it because we believe we are at a key moment,” said the senator, who advocated going for “amnesty” first so that later “there are social budgets.”
The pact announced this Wednesday picked up speed last week; So much so, that on Saturday former president Carles Puigdemont was already talking about a “new stage.” The noise from the Koldo case and the fact that the Supreme Court opened a criminal case against the Junts leader for terrorism, due to the Tsunami Democràtic protests, did not affect the negotiation.
Shortly after transcending the entente, the battle for the story began between the two pro-independence forces, which try to capitalize on the approval of the norm. From Junts they highlighted that they will vote in favor of a law that “does not leave anyone out”, and that “improvements” will be incorporated into the text suggested by the Venice Commission thanks to the fact that they stood up on January 30 when rejecting the law. full on. A way to get your chest out. Republicans, on the other hand, believe that this Thursday, like two months ago, there is a “robust and solid law that covers all those who have been retaliated against” and that in the law “the fundamentals remain as they were.” Likewise, they regret that “the delay” has caused some trials to be held and some judges to be given more time for “persecutory actions.”
“The important thing is that there will be an Amnesty law and it will be fully constitutional and in accordance with European law,” Sánchez highlighted this Wednesday, shortly before the agreement was made public, in a joint appearance in Brasilia with the president of Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
For Sánchez, as the rule was written when Junts paralyzed its processing, it already covered all the defendants in the process, JxCat demanded “more guarantees” despite the new accusations of terrorism crimes. But because of them, JxCat demanded “more guarantees.” And the President of the Government, in an informal conversation with the press before starting his visit to Brazil this Wednesday, assumed these changes. The head of the central Executive asserted that the law “has a very relevant meaning.” “It leaves behind all the judicial consequences of a territorial and constitutional crisis such as Spanish democracy has never experienced,” he added in reference to the process.
