Spain’s Tribunal Supremo on Monday upheld arrest warrants for Catalonia’s former leader Carles Puigdemont and other Catalan separatists charged with embezzlement, ruling that a recent amnesty law does not relieve them of their penal responsibility. The politicians, currently living in exile, are facing charges connected to the organization of the 2017 Catalan independence referendum, which was deemed unconstitutional by the Spanish constitutional court.

The court held that the amnesty law provides for exceptions under which individuals can be charged, which were overlooked in a hasty application of its provisions. First, the court said that the conduct of the accused fits within the exception of “embezzlement for personal gain” mentioned under Art. 1 a) of the law. According to the court’s reasoning, enrichment is not to be understood as personal material gain in the strict sense. Instead, the organization of the 2017 referendum is to be interpreted as a mere personal cause, funded through public money, without a link to the public interest.

Second, according to the judge, the separatists’ actions also trigger the exception under Art. 2 e), which covers actions that affect the European Union’s financial interests. Even though it is irrelevant whether the money used stems from EU funds the court held that the risk a secession poses to Spain’s tax collection and gross national income is enough to invalidate the amnesty for the accused.

Puigdemont, who lives in self-imposed exile in France, responded to the ruling on X by calling the tribunal “la toga nostra,” criticizing the institution as corrupt and biased. He and his partners are expected to appeal, but it is unlikely that they can fulfill their former promise of returning to Spain amidst the upheld arrest warrant.

The decision also sets back Prime Minister Sánchez, whose Socialist Party PSOE had agreed to drop all charges against Catalan separatists in exchange for the Catalan Independence Party’s votes following the inconclusive 2023 Elections. This move had sparked mass protests in the Spanish Capital in November 2023.