The lawyer of the Catalan president-in-exile Carles Puigdemont, Gonzalo Boye, has asserted that "whatever they do with the Penal Code, they will not extradite Puigdemont", referring to the sedition reform being debated in the Spanish Congress. Speaking to Catalan radio station RAC1, Boye said he considered the proposed modification of the misuse of funds offence to be "a mess", drafted hastily and "technically very worrying". "Doing things hastily and improvising always leads to bad consequences", he added. In this respect, the lawyer pointed out that it is "a completely improvised reform in which the promoters have been steadily correcting themselves" and that "sooner rather than later we will see its failings". According to Boye, the reform will leave pro-independence leaders "as they are now, but with fewer years in prison, and the problem here is not the years in prison."
Congress is debating a PSOE proposal to reform the crime of misuse of public funds. Catalan president-in-exile Carles Puigdemont is one of the Catalan politicians who is still facing prosecution for this crime and, therefore, a modification of the Penal Code could have an impact on him. However, Boye asserts out that it is "not an issue that concerns" him and his client at the moment and that he prefers to wait to see "the fine print" of the reform. The lawyer asserts that this reform "does not address the real problem" because political decisions on public spending cannot be reviewed by criminal means, which "must be the last resort when there are other procedures". In fact, Boye has made it clear that "the reform shows that [the pro-independence leaders] are facing political persecution".
The possible return of Puigdemont
Carles Puigdemont's lawyer is convinced that the president's from exile "is closer than we imagine", affirming that he has confidence in European justice. Boye thus maintains what he said in November, when he assured that immunity from prosecution as an MEP will not be withdrawn from Puigdemont, Toni Comín and Clara Ponsatí, a decision which will open the door to their possible return to Catalonia. "If the actions carried out had been criminal, the [Spanish legislators] would not have to play games with the Penal Code nor would they have to reform it to extradite Puigdemont. Whatever reform they carry out, they will not extradite him," he asserted. However, the lawyer avoided setting a date for a possible return of Puigdemont, as it depends on the judgment awaited from the European Court of Justice (ECJ). "Once we have the ruling, the return date will be a political decision", he declared. According to the lawyer, the situation of the Catalan MEPs "must set a precedent" for other court cases that the EU may find itself facing in the future.
The PSOE's misuse of funds reform
Following last week's proposal from the Catalan Republican Left (ERC) to reform the offence of misuse of funds, distinguishing between those who carry out the crime for monetary profit (to themselves or a third party) and those who do not, the PSOE has now presented its own proposal for the offence that merely envisages reducing the sentences, but not decriminalizing the Catalan political leaders who authorised funding of the referendum on 1st October 2017. Specifically, the Spanish executive proposes to reduce the maximum penalties for this offence from six to four years while also adding a new crime that penalizes irregular diversion of funds within the public administration itself, which they believe still covers the referendum cases. Although this proposal was at first presented as coming from the coalition government, junior partner Unidas Podemos in the end decided to back away from the plan and has disassociated itself from the PSOE's plan to change the misuse of funds law.