They had the common goal of “shielding as much as possible” the application of the amnesty, but the Junts and Esquerra groups presented yesterday separately, without agreeing, the amendments to the law and complicate their processing in the Congress of Deputies. The post-convergents did it alone, with twelve proposals, while the republican group registered four on their own and nine more with the PSOE, Sumar, EH Bildu and the BNG.
One of the keys lies in the inclusion or not in the criminal oblivion of the crimes of terrorism. It remains in the text after the package of amendments that malicious acts resulting in death and other conditions will not be amnestied under any circumstances, but both Junts and ERC, each for their part, propose that it be deleted of the original text, in the chapter of exclusions, the reference to “acts classified as crimes of terrorism punished in Chapter VII of Title XXII of Book II of the Penal Code, as long as there has been a final sentence and they have consisted of the commission of any of the conduct described in article 3 of Directive (EU) 2017/541 of the European Parliament and of the Council, of March 15, 2017”.
When it is requested that this reference be withdrawn, the intention of both is to ensure that the pro-independence people accused of terrorism in the National Court are not left out of criminal oblivion. These are the accused in the Democratic Tsunami case – with Carles Puigdemont (Junts) and Marta Rovira (ERC) at the head – as well as the members of the defense committees of the republic (CDR) prosecuted for this crime in the framework of operation Judes, which are awaiting trial. But Junts adds a nuance that separates them from the Republicans and wants to remove from the section of exclusions “crimes of treason and against the peace or independence of the State and relating to National Defence”.
In any case, this does not mean that the criminal oblivion includes any other cause related to terrorism, since in article 1 of the law it is clear that the criminal oblivion only affects cases related to the process, with the consultation of the 9-N, the referendum of 1-O, between January 1, 2012 and November 13, 2023, and “acts committed with the intention of claiming, promoting or seeking the secession or independence of Catalonia”. However, another amendment by JxCat asks to extend the period until November 2011 due to the cases open before the Court of Auditors.
This issue, the references to terrorism, was one of the hot potatoes negotiated by the groups’ legal teams. It has special relevance because of the reservations that may arise from including terrorism in criminal oblivion at the European level.
In relation to the three packages of amendments registered there was a common note, these are modifications of a “technical nature” to improve the law, although each one put the emphasis where they wanted. While the post-convergents and republicans aimed to shield the application of the amnesty and the inclusion of all the causes that they link to the process, the PSOE pointed out that all the amendments they presented in bloc with the rest of the forces are constitutional and that the text initial is of “enormous legal solidity”.
The two pro-independence formations had assured that they would negotiate until the last breath, but in the end each went their own way, according to consulted sources, despite the fact that they share the nuance regarding terrorism.
The next step is for the partial amendments to be debated in the Justice Committee tomorrow. There is nothing written about what may happen from now on and the fact that the PSOE has not initialed some of the amendments of the pro-independence groups does not mean that it is not possible to continue negotiating and end up approving them, as they have been drafted now or via transaction. In other words, merge the different considerations into one. But in case of disagreement, the original text will remain.
Regarding this, although each group has gone on its side, from Puigdemont’s party they assure that they will continue to talk with the rest of the forces in favor of the law “until its final approval to improve the text”. They emphasize that they want the rule to “include all cases of persecution of independence without exception and to be applicable in its entirety”, as well as to “have immediate effects”. For its part, ERC emphasizes that “they trust to agree” with the other parties “during the presentation of the law”. “The negotiation will continue”, they say.
The deadline for registering the amendments ended at six o’clock yesterday afternoon and all groups ran out of time. The post-convergents presented them twelve minutes before the limit, while the Republicans did it with a minute and a half margin. The joint package arrived just after six o’clock. It is now planned that the processing of the law, in the Justice Committee of the Congress, will accelerate this week and next, in order to be able to approve the law at the end of January.
