His execution for involvement in a bank robbery and shooting a police officer dead became a cause célèbre in Francoist Spain for Catalan autonomists, pro-independence supporters, and anarchists.

After fighting the Spanish state with the militant organization Iberian Liberation Movement in the early 1970s, he was convicted and executed by garrote for the death of a police officer during a shoot-out.

Far left-wing Catalans viewed Puig Antich's judicial death as symbolic retribution for the region's fight for self-government, and his name became commonplace in Barcelona.

Some Catalans interpreted Puig Antich's execution as symbolic retaliation for the region's fight for autonomy, which led to public demonstrations.

[10] Tàpies's Assassins lithograph series, presented at the Parisian Galerie Maeght, too was inspired by Puig Antich's execution and Spanish politics.

[1] In February 2025, the Ministry of Territorial Policy and Democratic Memory under Ángel Víctor Torres declared the trial of Puig Antich to have been "illegal" and formally nullified his death sentence.