Spain lifts arrest warrant for Catalan separatist leader Puigdemont

Spain’s Supreme Court on Tuesday provisionally lifted the domestic arrest warrant for Catalan separatist leader Carles Puigdemont, potentially clearing the way for his return nearly nine years after he left the country following a failed independence bid.

Judge Pablo Llarena ordered the immediate withdrawal of warrants for Puigdemont and former Catalan ministers Antoni Comin and Lluis Puig, according to a court statement.

The decision followed a Constitutional Court ruling that upheld an appeal by former Catalan minister Dolors Bassa against the refusal to apply Spain’s amnesty law to her embezzlement conviction. The full judgment was not yet available, but Llarena said similarities between the cases warranted lifting the warrants while he assessed the ruling’s implications.

Keeping the warrants in place in the meantime could result in a detention that was later found to be unjustified, the judge said.

Puigdemont led Catalonia’s regional government during the 2017 independence referendum and unilateral declaration of independence. He left Spain for Belgium that October to avoid prosecution and has lived abroad since.

He briefly returned to Barcelona in August 2024 to address supporters, then left again without being arrested.

Spain’s amnesty law was approved in 2024 following an agreement between Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez’s Socialists and Puigdemont’s Junts party. Junts’ parliamentary support helped Sanchez secure another term after the 2023 elections.

The Supreme Court had refused to apply the law to the embezzlement charge against Puigdemont, leaving his arrest warrant in force.

The latest decision comes amid renewed tensions between Junts and the government. Sanchez called an early general election for Nov. 29, one day before the court’s announcement.

Junts joined opposition parties in rejecting the government’s housing decrees last Friday, handing Sanchez a parliamentary defeat that helped prompt his decision to seek a broader mandate.

Sanchez welcomed the lifting of the warrant, saying it would help Catalan society “look forward and move forward.” Puigdemont and the main opposition parties have yet to comment on the ruling.