Catalan separatist leader Puigdemont to return home after warrant lifted

What the report says

Carles Puigdemont, the Catalan separatist leader who has lived outside Spain since 2017, could return home after Spain’s Constitutional Court said an amnesty law for Catalan separatists covers the embezzlement allegations against him. A Supreme Court judge then lifted an arrest warrant, removing the immediate risk of detention if he comes back. The developments were reported by Al Jazeera on 6 October 2026.

Puigdemont fled to Belgium after Catalonia held an independence referendum that Madrid had declared illegal, and the region’s leaders later made a unilateral declaration of independence. Since then, Spain has pursued several extradition efforts against him, while some of his close allies served prison time. His party, Junts, portrayed the court ruling as a major victory and said he may return, although one party official indicated he is unlikely to take part in the upcoming election campaign.

The case matters because Puigdemont remains influential in Spanish politics. Junts helped keep Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez in office in 2023 in exchange for amnesty measures, and its support has continued to shape parliamentary dynamics. Sanchez welcomed the court decision and defended the amnesty as a path toward coexistence in Catalonia. More broadly, the ruling could reopen political tensions around Catalan independence and complicate the November snap election, in which the opposition conservative People’s Party is currently ahead in polls.