Spain’s Congress has approved the government’s contentious Catalan amnesty law, which has now overcome its final parliamentary hurdle ahead of its implementation.
The law seeks to withdraw pending legal action against Catalan nationalists for separatist activities, including a 2017 referendum and failed independence bid.
The law received the backing of a narrow majority, with 177 lawmakers voting in favour and 172 voting against. The amnesty law has spent six months in parliament since the Socialist Party (PSOE) of the prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, presented it.
It was approved in a preliminary congressional vote in March, before going to the opposition-controlled Senate, which delayed the bill’s passage but was unable to block it altogether.
Once the law is published in the official gazette, judges will have two months in which to apply it. It could still face legal appeals but they are not expected to hinder its implementation.
The amnesty is expected to benefit nearly 400 Catalan nationalists who have been facing legal action since November 2011. Many of them were involved in the organisation of an independence referendum in 2017 which was deemed illegal. Police who have been facing prosecution for attacking voters during the referendum will also benefit from the law.
Credit: bbc.com
