Illa Appeals Supreme Court Closure of Fake PCR Case Against Alvise

Salvador Illa, president of the Generalitat (Catalan government), will appeal the Tribunal Supremo’s (Spain’s Supreme Court) decision to close the case against MEP Alvise Pérez over a fake Covid test that was posted online under Illa’s name. Government sources confirmed the plan to ElNacional.cat and elDiario.es.

The appeal goes to the court’s Sala Segunda (criminal chamber). Illa wants the investigation into alleged offences against honour and document forgery reopened after the judge dismissed it.

A fake PCR from Illa’s time as health minister

The document was a PCR test result attributed to Illa in 2021, when he was Spain’s health minister. Alvise shared it on X, then called Twitter. Illa filed a complaint, and because Alvise is now a member of the European Parliament, the case could only move forward if the Supreme Court asked Brussels to lift his parliamentary immunity. That request is known in Spain as a suplicatorio.

What Judge Javier Hernández decided

Magistrate Javier Hernández closed the case, El Nacional reported. He found too little evidence of a crime to justify a suplicatorio. In his ruling, the judge said it could not be shown that Alvise forged the document, or that he knew it was false when he posted it. According to elDiario.es, the court also noted that another account had published the fake test before Alvise shared it.

On the honour offences, the judge concluded that the post did not reach the degree of humiliation, serious contempt or discredit needed for a criminal case. He left open the option for Illa to defend his honour in a civil lawsuit.

What Illa’s office says

Sources in the president’s office said Illa wants to “llegar hasta el final” (see this through to the end). They added that social networks cannot be a place where agitators and spreaders of lies act with impunity, according to both outlets.

A second case against Alvise moves ahead

Another Supreme Court case against Alvise has gone the other way. Magistrate Carmen Lamela has asked the European Parliament to lift his immunity so she can keep investigating him for alleged public disorder, El Nacional reported.

That case concerns Telegram messages Alvise posted during farmers’ protests in February 2024. Lamela said the posts may have gone beyond legitimate free speech. According to her ruling, they included instructions to cut off road traffic, block access points and logistics centres, and bring cities to a standstill through coordinated action. They also mentioned taking advantage of thin police numbers, keeping blockades in place and backing pickets.

The judge noted that the messages went out between Feb. 6 and 10, 2024, before Alvise became an MEP. In her view they cannot count as opinions expressed while carrying out his duties in the European Parliament.

Why it matters for people in Catalonia

The sitting head of the Catalan government is taking a disinformation complaint to Spain’s highest court in person. The fake test was made to look like an official medical record of a health minister during the pandemic. If the appeal succeeds, the Supreme Court would have to reconsider whether to ask the European Parliament to lift Alvise’s immunity in this case too.

What happens next

The Sala Segunda will decide on Illa’s appeal against the dismissal. Separately, the European Parliament must rule on Lamela’s request in the public disorder case. Neither outlet gave a date for either decision.

Sources: elDiario.es, El Nacional