A Spanish Supreme Court judge rejected an effort to reinstate national arrest warrants for former Catalan President Carles Puigdemont and two former ministers, removing an immediate detention risk while their criminal case remains open.
Supreme Court Judge Pablo Llarena on Oct. 19 dismissed Vox's appeal of his provisional Oct. 6 order. The withdrawal also covers former Catalan ministers Antoni Comín and Lluís Puig.
Llarena's order followed a Constitutional Court ruling in favor of former Catalan minister Dolors Bassa over Spain's 2024 amnesty law. The Constitutional Court found that the Supreme Court had interpreted too broadly an exception involving misuse of public funds for personal financial gain.
The dispute concerns whether public spending on Catalonia's 2017 independence effort falls within that exception. Llarena said he disagreed with the Constitutional Court's reasoning but was bound to apply it.
Withdrawal of the warrants does not formally end the criminal proceedings. Llarena said the Supreme Court's criminal chamber must decide whether to close the case. No date for that decision was given.
