Spain’s Council of Ministers has granted a partial pardon to Laura Borràs, the former president of the Catalan Parliament and a leading figure in Junts. Confirmed at the last cabinet meeting before the summer break in July 2026, the decision cuts her prison sentence from four and a half years to two years. The court-imposed fine and a ban on holding public office for just over four years remain unchanged.
The Ministry of Justice said the pardon followed recommendations from the Tribunal Superior de Justicia de Cataluña, which originally sentenced Borràs. In an October opinion column in Regió7, contributor José Antonio González Casanova wrote that the sentencing judges considered their prison sentence disproportionate and sought a pardon. Borràs is one of five people granted similar partial pardons in this round.
Another beneficiary is Natalio Grueso, an artist and cultural manager. He had been sentenced to eight years in prison, eight years of disqualification from public office, and a fine. Citing humanitarian reasons related to his health, the government pardoned the remaining prison time, while the other penalties remain in force. His case had drawn support from numerous artists and figures in the audiovisual sector.
Juan Fernández Gutiérrez, the former mayor of Linares in Jaén, also received a pardon. His three-year prison sentence has been reduced to two years, while a seven-year ban from public office remains in force. The sentencing court backed the pardon, as did local branches of both the PP and PSOE. Support also came from Linares city council and a neighborhood association that collected signatures in his favor.
The cabinet also approved partial pardons for two people convicted of drug-related offenses. Their prison terms, originally three and four and a half years, have each been cut to two years. Both cases received favorable reports from the sentencing courts and the public prosecutor’s office.
In a subsequent development, González Casanova reported in Regió7 on October 20 that the Tribunal Superior de Justicia de Cataluña had suspended Borràs’s prison term on condition that she complete an official 25-hour course on corruption prevention and public-administration principles, and commit no new offence for five years. A suspension of imprisonment is distinct from a pardon: the pardon changes the sentence, while the court’s suspension sets conditions for serving the remaining prison term.
Spain has also granted partial pardons in other Catalan political cases. In June 2021, the government pardoned the remaining prison terms of Oriol Junqueras and Jordi Turull, along with those of Raül Romeva and Dolors Bassa, while leaving their disqualifications from public office in place. The Supreme Court later applied the 2023 amnesty law to extinguish criminal responsibility in separate proceedings related to the independence process. Those cases involved Meritxell Borràs, not Laura Borràs, and are legally distinct from Laura Borràs’s case.
Partial pardons in Spain are rare and typically rest on legal or humanitarian grounds, assessed against the wider social context. By acting on sentencing courts’ recommendations, the government exercises executive discretion alongside the judiciary’s role in imposing and interpreting sentences. For Borràs, the reduced prison term does not affect her disqualification from public office, which remains a impressive barrier to her return to political life. A pardon can change the practical consequences of a conviction, especially imprisonment, without erasing the conviction or criminal record. Its use continues to prompt debate about the separation of powers and the limits of executive intervention in judicial matters.
