The State Attorney General, Alvaro Garcia Ortizhas ordered the four Supreme Court prosecutors who participated in the ‘procés’ trial to ask the High Court to apply the amnesty to all crimes committed by Catalan independence leaders, including embezzlement.
Garcia Ortiz has sent to the fiscal leadershipa legal report and has convened a Board of Chamber Prosecutors for Tuesday to establish the position of the Prosecutor’s Office regarding the application of the amnesty to those convicted and prosecuted by the Supreme Court, as requested in writing by the prosecutors of the ‘procés’, supporters not to forgive the embezzlement, in case he did not agree with them.
The attorney general asks for amnesty to the four convicts who are serving sentences of disqualification for embezzlement -the former vice president Oriol Junqueras and the former councilors Raul Romeva, Jordi Turull and Dolors Bassa– and three of the escapees who were not tried – the former president Carles Puigdemont and the former councilors Toni Comín and Lluis Puig, prosecuted for embezzlement and disobedience.
García Ortiz addresses the four prosecutors to order them to “proceed to complete the transfers granted by orders of June 11, 2024, in the sense that the crimes object of accusation and conviction in Special Case No. 3/20907/2017 proceedings before the Second Chamber of the Supreme Court are included in the scope of application” of the amnesty law.
And therefore, “it is appropriate to declare amnesty for all conduct who were and are the subject of said procedures, as well as lifting the precautionary measures that are pending with respect to some of the defendants”, who are Puigdemont, Comín and Puig.
Considers that prosecutors confuse profit motive with embezzlement
The order of the attorney general considers that these prosecutors confuse in their report the “profit motive” required by the crime of embezzlement with the “personal enrichment of a patrimonial nature” of those acts that the amnesty law considers not amnestiable.
The patrimonial damage to the Administration, resulting from the crime of embezzlement, is not comparable to “personal enrichment of a patrimonial nature”, adds García Ortiz’s order. Likewise, the attorney general considers that the events did not directly affect the financial interests of the European Union.
What prosecutors can do if they disagree
The four prosecutors must now respond in writing, as required by the Statute, whether they comply with the order of the attorney general or invoke article 27 which would entail the holding of the Board of Chamber Prosecutors next Tuesday, as reported yesterday.
This order precedes the convocation of the Board of Court Prosecutors to be held next Tuesday, the 18th, in which the arguments of the prosecutors of the ‘procés’ and the attorney general will be analyzed with the aim of establishing the criteria that will be maintained the Public Ministry before Judge Llarena, who gave the parties a period of five days to rule. That period ends on Tuesday.
The Board of Prosecutors can vote on the antagonistic criteria defended by the prosecutors of the ‘procés’ and the attorney general, but its position is not binding and García Ortiz will have the last word.
