Spain suspends prosecution of Catalan separatists

(Patria) - Former Catalan President Carles Puigdemont, who has been in exile in Belgium for years, welcomed yesterday's adoption of a law in the Spanish parliament on amnesty for separatists involved in the 2017 attempt to secede Catalonia.

The amnesty suspends the prosecution of Catalans who organized an illegal independence referendum in 2017, Hina reports.

- Today was a historic day in the long, existing and unresolved struggle between Catalonia and the Spanish state - said Puigdemont in a ceremonial speech in Waterloo, near Brussels, where he took refuge in 2017 to avoid prosecution by the Spanish judiciary, which ceases with this law.

The Spanish left-wing government, led by Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, announced six months ago a law that could cover about 370 Catalans, but it was legally and politically challenged by the right-wing, which is why it only reached the final vote now.

The amnesty law was adopted in the Spanish parliament yesterday with 177 votes in favor and 172 against.

Sanchez previously said that the law would lead to reconciliation and coexistence in the autonomous province of 7.5 million inhabitants.

Right-wing parties in Madrid organized a protest on Sunday, which they estimated attracted 80,000 demonstrators, while the Sanchez government estimated 20,000. The center-right People's Party and the right-wing Vox accused Sanchez of "treason".

Catalan independence advocate Miriam Nogueras said during the parliamentary debate that "today a battle was won in the centuries-long conflict between the Catalan and Spanish nations".

Catalonia has had a government advocating secession from Spain for the last 14 years.