The Supreme Court has applied Spain's amnesty law to Meritxell Serret, the former Generalitat agriculture minister, ending the criminal liability arising from the acts for which she was convicted over the 1 October 2017 independence referendum.

Serret, of Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya (ERC), becomes the first minister from Carles Puigdemont's 2017 Catalan government to receive the measure from the Supreme Court. The ruling concerns a 2023 conviction for serious disobedience, which carried a one-year ban from holding public office and a €12,000 fine.

Supreme Court declares acts covered by amnesty

The Supreme Court's Criminal Chamber held that the acts attributed to Serret were covered by the amnesty law and declared any criminal responsibility she may have incurred to be extinguished.

The case concerned her actions while serving in the Generalitat government that organised and facilitated the referendum on 1 October 2017.

2023 disobedience conviction

In April 2023, the Tribunal Superior de Justícia de Catalunya (TSJC), Catalonia's High Court of Justice, convicted Serret of serious disobedience. The court imposed a one-year disqualification from public office and a €12,000 financial penalty.

According to the TSJC judgment, Serret had been personally notified five times of Constitutional Court requirements preventing the referendum from proceeding. The judgment said she knowingly and deliberately failed to take action to halt the process.

  • Role at the time: Generalitat minister for Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries and Food from January 2016 to October 2017.
  • Original conviction: one year barred from public office and a €12,000 fine.
  • Supreme Court outcome: criminal liability for the acts has been extinguished under the amnesty law.

ERC welcomed the decision, saying it endorsed the party's approach to the amnesty law passed by Spain's Congress of Deputies.

“ERC is satisfied with the amnesty for minister Meritxell Serret decided today by the Supreme Court. It validates the sound strategy followed with the amnesty law.”

Reported by Source Text Link, Pepa Masó, Por José Manuel Rodríguez Camarero Seguir, Silvia Díaz, russpain.com, europapress.es, elmundo.es, en.wikipedia.org, catalangovernment.eu, ikidata.org, elperiodico.com, Agències, vilaweb.cat, Mayte Piulachs, Nico Tomás/ ACN, David Expósito J., Ana María Pascual, Europa Press Barcelona.