Spanish Court Update Charges For Puigdemont, Comín, And Ponsatí Amid Repeal Of Sedition Law

This coming Wednesday, the Luxembourg-based European General Court (EGC) is to make public the two rulings that are intended to decide whether the three exiled Catalan MEPs Carles Puigdemont, Toni Comín and Clara Ponsatí can maintain their parliamentary immunity or if the process of their handover to the Spanish state will be allowed to move forward. The resolutions, however, will come after important changes to the Spanish Penal Code that may mean that both texts will become obsolete. PHOTO BY STF/POOL/GETTY IMAGES

 The repeal of the crime of sedition by the Spanish government, last December, has forced the Supreme Court to update the charges for which Puigdemont, Comín and Ponsatí are being prosecuted and, in March this year, it eliminated the offence of sedition in parallel with misuse of public funds and incorporated the new “aggravated” variant of misuse of public funds along with the lesser offence of disobedience.

This means, according to the defence lawyer for the three Junts politicians, Gonzalo Boye, that if the EGC does not accept the demand and withdraws their immunity, the Supreme Court judge, Pablo Llarena, will need to once again ask the European chamber to lift the trio’s parliamentary immunity for the new alleged crimes, which in Ponsatí’s case means only an offence of disobedience.