If, after rejecting an amnesty proposal in 2021 due to clear unconstitutionality, the Congressional Board now moves in the opposite direction and admits to processing the text negotiated by PSOE, Junts and ERC to support the -invested by Pedro Sánchez, has the possibility to be acquired. of criminal responsibilities, especially the crime of prevarication, according to some jurors familiar with the Congressional Regulations. For this to happen, the text must be the same or very similar.
Prevarication is a type of crime that can only be committed by an authority or public official. The Penal Code defines it within crimes against Public Administration, in articles 404 to 406. Simply, it consists of the intentional issuance of an arbitrary resolution. The matter is dangerous. The fact that there is no closed text adds to the difficulty that analysis can only be done in the abstract. However, experts who spoke to LA RAZÓN warned that the qualification made by the Board when the acquisition of a law is a legal act and it may have implications in the criminal field.
To do this, it is necessary to consider the precedent of March 2021, when according to the report of the lawyers of the Cortes Generales, the Board did not admit an amnesty proposal for processing because it was considered manifestly unconstitutional. It covers “all acts of political intent” that have occurred since January 2013. If it now accepts a text in the same terms, “it would border on criminality. For example, it could be considered prevarication,” warned the one of the specialists.
The lawyers’ report is unreliable
He wasn’t the only one considering this possibility. Another source also believes that it is possible, but warns that the key is to determine if the facts are the same, if there is a coincidence between the text that was rejected and the final words of the proposal that is now agreed.
And we must consider all the elements that make up the situation. If in practice it is the same law, the legal consequences should be the same, that is, the rejection of its processing, warns a criminal expert, insisting that we must continue with a lot of detail to conclude that there is no’ y change. the facts. Those who maintain that prevarication may occur explain that the text should be similar to the one already rejected in 2021.
What if the lawyers of the Cortes Generales point out, again, that the text is clearly unconstitutional? Some consider it non-judgmental because the report is advisory and non-binding. It will only be mandated if the law itself specifies it and these are rare cases. For the purposes of determining a situation of prevarication, “the report of lawyers is not relevant, but rather indicative,” they explained. The Board may state that it deviates from the report, justifying it adequately, or it may issue a separate order indicating that it disagrees.
“In the abstract, it’s unconstitutional”
The requirement for the processing of the routine to be stopped in this instance is that it is indisputably against the Magna Carta, as it happened in 2021. And it must be very clear at a legal level because an initiative of little only in the constitution cannot be unacceptable. .. “In the abstract, an amnesty law is unconstitutional, but we must see the final text. If it is the same or the same text and is accepted for processing, there may be prevarication. There must be a legal report against it because it has clear unconstitutional features, but this is a speculation that we don’t know if it will happen at this time,” said another source.
Among the judges who believe that this situation can happen, some mention the situation of Carme Forcadell, the former president of the Catalan Parliament. In 2016, the Superior Court of Justice of Catalonia (TSJC) admitted a complaint from the Prosecutor’s Office against him for disobedience and prevarication, for allowing the conclusions of the study commission of the constituent voting process. Finally, the Supreme Court sentenced him in October 2019 to eleven and a half years in prison and total disqualification for the crime of sedition.
Another aspect that should not be forgotten is if, in the end, it is confirmed that it is a general forgiveness, true from a legal point of view. “If you call it amnesty, it is the political price that is set in an investiture, but legally it is not amnesty, the name has nothing to do with it,” emphasized one of the jurors who were consulted. With the existing text, it can be verified whether the acceptance of its processing by Congress can be a crime of prevarication.
