Puigdemont expected to delay return to Catalonia until after Spain's November election

Former Catalan president Carles Puigdemont is expected to wait until after Spain's general election on November 29 before returning to Catalonia, even if the courts formally apply the amnesty covering offences linked to the 2017 independence referendum, his lawyer Gonzalo Boye has said.

"He will not return in the middle of an election campaign, which is what the Socialists would like. I assume that will be the case," Boye said in an interview with Catalan public broadcaster Catalunya Ràdio on Tuesday morning.

Boye said Puigdemont would decide for himself when to return and had a plan that he intended to explain once the amnesty had been fully applied.

The lawyer did not specify when that would be, warning it would not be "a matter of days."

Supreme Court

Meanwhile, Supreme Court judge Pablo Llarena is expected to propose dismissing the case against Puigdemont and former Catalan ministers Toni Comín and Lluís Puig.

According to Supreme Court sources, Llarena could issue his proposed ruling between Friday and next Tuesday, after reviewing submissions from the parties.

The judge's move follows a Constitutional Court ruling that upheld an appeal by former Catalan minister Dolors Bassa, finding that the amnesty law covers the misappropriation of public funds in connection with the October 1, 2017 independence referendum.

Spain's top court rejected the Supreme Court's previous interpretation that the pro-independence leaders had obtained a personal financial benefit from the use of public money to organise the vote.

It ordered the Supreme Court to issue a new ruling applying the amnesty to Bassa.

Llarena has already suspended the arrest warrants against Puigdemont, Comín and Puig on a provisional basis.

However, the case has not yet been formally dismissed: Llarena must first submit his proposed ruling to the Supreme Court's Criminal Chamber, which will decide on its definitive closure.

The legal developments bring Puigdemont closer to a possible return after nearly nine years abroad.

But Boye's remarks suggest that, even if the judicial process is completed before then, the former president does not intend to return during the election campaign.