BarcelonaThe courts will have two months to implement the amnesty once the Spanish courts approve it. It is one of the points on which the SWP agreed with Junts and the ERC to avoid unjustified delays by judges opposed to the implementation of the law. To the same end, Section 10 of the text already being processed in Congress specifies that any appeal against the law “shall not have suspensive effects” and that courts must enforce it “preferably and expeditiously.” However, a week ago, Royal Decree 6/2023 entered into force, which regulates, among other things, remote justice, and adds an amendment to the Code of Criminal Procedure that put JxCat on alert: “The approach of a preliminary question before the court will be approved by the Court of Justice of “The European Union may suspend the proceedings until the court decides or until it is agreed to withdraw the preliminary question.”
In other words, the amnesty law gives judges two months to apply it, but this decree allows them to wait for Europe to respond to their doubts. The law will likely be approved in Congress during January or at the end of February, after which a longer procedure will begin in the Senate, where the People's Party – which has an absolute majority – decided to extend the deadlines as much as required. as possible. Whatever the case, it will not be able to go beyond May, when it returns to Congress – with expected rejection by the Senate – for final approval. Then the judges' turn will begin. Will they have two months, or will the period be indefinite depending on the speed at which Europe is moving?
So far, the preliminary questions are not pending, but the judge can decide whether to wait for the European standard or not. For example, the trial coach, Pablo Jarena, decided to wait for the European Court of Justice to finish resolving the issue of the immunity of Carles Puigdemont and Toni Comin before issuing a new arrest warrant against them. On the other hand, the President of the Process Tribunal, Manuel Marchena, did not wait to learn the standard of European justice, despite asking a question about the status of European Parliament member Oriol Junqueras.
vote against
Gontz has already announced that he will vote against this resolution and other decrees recently approved by the Spanish government, which will soon have to be approved in the Chamber of Deputies.
This change is embodied in the addition of Article 43 bis to the Code of Criminal Procedure. But the decrees approved by the Council of Ministers regulate many other issues, and the spokeswoman for Together in Congress, Miriam Nogueras, made it clear through a series of letters to Her apparently things in between; that the public justice service be modified “without contributing resources”; That the affairs of public service and local order be regulated; That recruitment becomes difficult, or that the powers of the general government are, in his opinion, invaded.
Equity and Reconciliation Commission sources are aware of the complexity of implementing the amnesty law, and indicate that they are not surprised that disputes such as those that occurred this week have arisen. However, remember that Spanish government decrees still need to be ratified by members of Congress. In the House of Representatives, the SWP and SUMAR will need the support of the ERC, Junts, PNB and also EH Bildu throughout the legislature.
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