Supreme Court Recommends Catalan Leaders Not Pardoned For Indy Referendum

Spain's Supreme Court has issued a non-binding judgement recommending that nine pro-Catalan independence politicians are not given pardons for their roles in the illegal independence referendum held in the autonomous community in 2017.

• The Spanish gov't has the final decision on whether the pardons should be issued, and has previously stated that it will wait for the court's recommendation.
• Spanish PM Pedro Sanchez stated that he and his gov't would make the decision based on the values of "concord, dialogue, understanding," while rejecting "revenge."
• Sanchez is under pressure to uphold the convictions for sedition (carrying prison sentences of 9-13 years) given the rising support for the main opposition centre-right People's Party (PP) in the wake of the party's strong result in the Madrilenian regional election in early May.
• PP leader Pablo Casado stated that Sanchez - if he issues the pardons - "prefers to jeopardize the continuity of constitutional Spain in exchange for remaining in power."
• Sanchez's minority gov't remains reliant on the support of some Catalan nationalist parties to prop up his gov't. As such, the issue risks blowing up into a wider threat to the continuation of the Sanchez gov't should the Catalan parties demand pardons as the price of their continued support.