Professor Kieran McEvoy, Senator George J. Mitchell Chair in Peace, Security and Justice and Theme Lead: Rights and Social Justice, spoke at an event on 2 November in Barcelona organised by the Catalan government on the topic of The International Experiences of Amnesties in Conflict Resolution.  

The event was held in the infamous El Modelo, a former prison (now museum) where over 1000 executions of political prisoners took place during the Franco era 1939-1975.  The event was also addressed by the current Catalan President Pere Aragonès and Meitxell Serret, the current Catalan Foreign and EU Minister, who was herself convicted of the crime of ‘disobedience’ following the 2017 Catalan independence referendum.

Commenting on the event Professor McEvoy said:

I spoke on the legal limits of amnesties, particularly any attempt to use amnesties to interfere with right to an effective investigation of victims and survivors who had loved ones killed and injured during conflict.  However, I also argued that providing such rights are not infringed, amnesties can play an important role in conflict resolution.  

The timing of this event could hardly have been more auspicious. 

The Spanish government has since announced the introduction of an amnesty for hundreds of Catalan nationalists involved in the push for Catalan independence from 2012 to the present day. Following the general election in Spain earlier in 2023, the minority Socialist government led by Pedro Sánchez require the support of the Catalan regional parties for a second term in office.  The political price for that support from the Catalan parties is an amnesty.

It is fascinating to watch the political debates on amnesties in Spain.  The Spanish right leaning parties such as the Partido Popular (PP) are accusing the Socialists of ‘debasing democracy and the rule of law’ with this amnesty.

Sánchez has countered that the PP have historically been keen supporters of the amnesty introduced in the wake of the Franco dictatorship that saw perhaps 200,000 deaths while objecting to an amnesty for largely peaceful protests in favour of a political objective.

It will be interesting to see what Spain’s historical conservative judiciary do with this amnesty once the inevitable challenges come before the courts.”