The slamming of the Supreme Court in January to review the pardons for those convicted of the 'procés' did not represent a definitive endorsement of the Government's controversial decision. The Fifth Section of the Contentious-Administrative Chamber of the High Court, the same one that examined and rejected at a stroke of the pen the challenges that individuals, parties and associations presented against the pardons of the independence leaders, has now admitted the appeals filed against the decision of this same room of not even entering to assess the merits of the matter, that is, the lack of justification for the clemency measures that the appellants alleged.

Between one decision and another, the different composition of the Chamber, in which two of the five magistrates who made the initial decision are no longer present: its president, Segundo Menéndez, retired on April 15, and Ángeles Huet, now in the Admission Room.

In his place, two new judges have entered –the progressive Ángel Arozamena and the conservative Inés Huerta–, which has caused a shift in the sensitivity of this section, which if in January it had a progressive profile (three magistrates compared to two) now it is is conservative (also three to two).

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