The court applies the ECJ's criterion on the amnesty law linked to the procés and agrees to the free dismissal of proceedings against the accused
The Audiencia Nacional has archived the case against twelve members of the Committees for the Defense of the Republic (CDR), prosecuted for an alleged crime of terrorism, after applying the criterion of the Court of Justice of the European Union (ECJ) on the amnesty law linked to the procés.
The Criminal Chamber agrees to the free dismissal of the proceedings, considering that the facts attributed to the accused can benefit from the measure of grace, in accordance with the interpretation of Community law made by European Justice.
The resolution incorporates the doctrine established by the ECJ on the amnesty law and transfers it to the procedure against the twelve members of the CDR. The European court had examined whether the measure of grace could be applied to terrorism offenses without violating Community regulations.
In its ruling, Luxembourg indicated that European legislation does not prevent these crimes from being amnestied when they do not involve serious intentional violations of human rights. Based on this criterion, the magistrates consider that the facts attributed to the twelve accused do not fall into that category and that the amnesty should be applied.
Twelve accused in Operation Judas
The twelve members of the CDR were prosecuted within the framework of the so-called Operation Judas, carried out in 2019. The investigation focused on their alleged link with the Tactical Response Team (ERT), an alleged radical cell related to Catalan independence.
The Prosecutor's Office had initially requested prison sentences of between eight and 27 years for the accused, to whom it attributed a crime of belonging to a terrorist organization. Eight of them were also charged with alleged crimes related to the manufacture of explosives and attempted damage.
After the approval of the amnesty law and the ECJ's ruling, the Prosecutor's Office argued that the measure of grace should be applied and requested the free dismissal of the procedure. The decision of the Audiencia Nacional follows this line and puts an end to the criminal proceedings against the twelve accused in this case.