Catalan separatis leader demands Spanish ‘amnesty’

Catalonia’s separatist leader Carles Puigdemont demanded Tuesday an amnesty for hundreds of activists facing legal action over a failed 2017 separatist bid in the northeastern region of Spain.

Puigdemont said the “complete abandonment of judicial proceedings” against Catalan separatists was needed for his JxCat party to give its crucial backing for Spain’s acting Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez to be sworn in for another term after an inconclusive national election in July.

Puigdemont, 60, headed the regional government of Catalonia when it staged a referendum banned by Madrid and the courts on October 1, 2017, which was followed by a short-lived declaration of independence.

The JxCat leader fled Spain shortly after to avoid prosecution and now lives in Belgium.

His party unexpectedly emerged as kingmaker following the July 23 early general election in Spain.

The main opposition conservative Popular Party (PP) won the most seats but neither it nor Sanchez’s Socialists emerged with a clear path to achieve the 176-seat majority needed to win an investiture vote and take office.

King Felipe VI has called on PP leader Alberto Nunez Feijoo to try to form a new government but he lacks enough support to win an investiture vote in parliament slated for September 27.

If he fails as is widely expected, Sanchez will get a shot. The Socialists and its far-left allies Sumar can cobble together a working majority in parliament if they win the support of Catalan and Basque separatist parties, including Puigdemont’s JxCat.

Puigdemont met with Spain’s acting prime minister and the leader of Sumar, Yolanda Diaz, on Monday in Brussels as part of efforts to secure support for a new Socialist-led government.