The presentation of the Congressional Justice Commission, which this Thursday addressed the amendments to the proposed amnesty law process, has approved the eight modifications, slight and technical in nature, that the PSOE had previously agreed with Sumar, ERC, EH Bildu and BNG. These same corrections will be debated on Tuesday the 23rd, already in the entire Justice commission, before they are incorporated into the text for final approval by the full Congress on January 30. ERC and Junts have supported the socialist amendments, despite some discrepancies, so that they would not be boycotted by the opposition of the PP and Vox. Among these adjustments there is no change in the terrorism chapter: that is, the law will continue to forgive terrorist crimes, except for those that are convicted “with a final sentence.” In practice, this will allow amnesty for Carles Puigdemont, Marta Rovira and several members of the so-called Committees for the Defense of the Republic (CDR), who are being investigated in separate cases for alleged crimes of terrorism, but in a very initial phase of the procedure and Therefore, very far from having a final ruling.
The presentation lasted less than an hour. During it, the report of the three lawyers of that commission, known the day before, was first studied, in which they expressed “doubts” regarding the constitutionality of the proposed law. Among other issues, the report warns regarding the distinction made between terrorism crimes with or without a final sentence, and states that it might violate European law. The advisory reports from the legal services of Congress are indicative, to correct possible legal defects in legal initiatives, but the decision is made by political representatives. The PSOE and its partners have not accepted any of the observations in the report, except those of a formal or orthographic nature.
Junts and ERC had registered an amendment that asked to completely eliminate the paragraph referring to terrorist crimes and thus establish that all of them were amnestiable, including those convicted with a final sentence. These amendments have been rejected out of hand, although they remain formally “alive”, in parliamentary language, waiting to see if there is any possibility of negotiating any of their aspects before the Justice commission on Tuesday the 23rd or even in plenary. of the Congress on Tuesday the 30th. The idea of the Government and the PSOE is to accelerate this process as much as possible so that the final project is sent to the Senate. The PP, which has an absolute majority in that Chamber, has already warned that it will try to stop and retain the law there for at least two months.
The lawyers’ report
During this Thursday’s session in the Justice commission, the Vox spokesperson has appealed to the critical report of the lawyers – a team of three experts whose head is the lawyer Piedad García-Escudero – and has denounced that its content was not known until on Wednesday, the eve of the meeting, suggesting that he had been withheld by the House speaker. This complaint was already made on Wednesday by the PP, which asked the Presidency for explanations, and it was repeated this Thursday by its leader, Alberto Núñez Feijóo. But it was the lawyer herself, according to parliamentary sources, who wanted to intervene in the meeting to clarify the issue. Piedad García-Escudero, a lawyer in the Cortes since 1981 and sister of the former president of the Senate of the PP Pío García-Escudero, has settled that debate by explaining that no one had withheld anything and that her report had been provided to all the speakers of the commission in the moment when the meeting was called, as is always done.
The eight amendments that have been successful have been those that the PSOE had negotiated and closed in recent days with some of its usual partners and especially with Sumar, ERC, EH Bildu and BNG. These texts had also been agreed upon with Junts, with the idea of processing them all jointly, but in the end Carles Puigdemont’s party withdrew from that agreement.
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In one of the eight amendments, number 43 and which revises article 4 of the law, it is specified that it will be “the judicial bodies that, at all times, are hearing the case” that will apply the lifting of the precautionary measures and of the arrest warrants for those granted amnesty, and those who will order “the immediate release of the people benefiting from the amnesty who were in prison.” In the original wording of the law, the same was said, but stating that the lifting of the precautionary measures would be dictated by “the competent judicial body”, without specifying that this is the one that is handling the case at all times. Furthermore, the amendment specifies that the amnestied persons who are in prison will be released “either because their provisional detention has been decreed or they are serving a sentence.” In the vote on this amendment, ERC, which had voted in favor of the others, abstained.
Both the spokesperson for Junts in Congress, Miriam Nogueras, and the representative of ERC, Pilar Valluguera, have downplayed the fact that their particular amendments had been rejected and have advocated continuing negotiating to find some meeting point with the PSOE and the others. allies in the coming days. Nogueras insisted that some of the actions that took place in those days of 2017 related to the Catalan independence process cannot be considered terrorist crimes, but both leaders admitted that the amendments already approved are legally “immaculate” so as not to face any inconvenience. before future judicial appeals.
The general secretary of the PP, Cuca Gamarra, present at the presentation, regretted that the proposed amnesty law continues to be processed despite the lawyers’ report, and has warned of its possible unconstitutionality: “The only thing that might be done with This law, following the forcefulness of the report of the lawyers of this commission, is to stop here this authentic nonsense, to stop here this indignity that means that we Spaniards are seeing how impunity is given and how a political caste is generated in our country in exchange for a handful of votes that keep Pedro Sánchez in power, no more, no less,” he stated. Gamarra has denounced that the socialists look the other way: “The PSOE is not put in front of anything when it comes to paying the price to its partners to remain in power.”
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