Spain lifts arrest warrants against Puigdemont and two former ministers

Spanish Supreme Court judge Pablo Llarena has lifted the arrest warrants against former Catalan president Carles Puigdemont and two of his former cabinet ministers, Toni Comín and Lluís Puig. 

The court announced the move minutes after the Constitutional Court ordered the application of the amnesty law to the cases still open for misuse of public funds, for which the three independence referendum organizers still had charges pending. 

In a court order, Llarena set aside the outstanding arrest warrants for the politicians living in exile since 2017, effective “immediately and until a new express judicial ruling.”

Llarena noted that he had not yet received the Constitutional Court’s final ruling but deemed it “proportionate” to lift the arrest warrants. He stated that lifting the warrants does not imply the application of the amnesty.

However, the magistrate acknowledges that “the substantial overlap of the facts and the disputed legal issue makes it possible to perceive, without anticipating a definitive conclusion” that the Constitutional Court’s pronouncement could “impact” the grounds for the arrest warrants issued by the Supreme Court.

The judge argues that the right to liberty enshrined in Article 17 of the Constitution means they must “weigh the new situation” up. 

Puigdemont is due to speak at 6pm on Tuesday.

So far, he has not yet commented on his next steps, although in a recent interview with The Sunday Times, he said he wants to “immerse himself” in Catalonia upon his return.