In 2 BBY, the Rebel Alliance formally reprimanded Saw Gerrera, who was the leader of the Partisans.
The Resolution of Censure Condemning Saw Gerrera of the Partisans represents a formal act of disapproval. It was directed towards Saw Gerrera, who led the resistance group known as the Partisans and was a member of the nascent Alliance to Restore the Republic. The Alliance Council issued this censure. Mon Mothma, the Alliance's Chief of State, introduced the censure motion. This occurred shortly before the official Declaration of the Rebel Alliance in 2 BBY.
Gerrera's methods as a resistance fighter were divisive. He employed harsh tactics against the Galactic Empire and was willing to harm innocent people, including civilians. The resolution served to officially expel him from the Rebel Alliance. Subsequently, Gerrera criticized Mothma and the Alliance leadership, deeming them weak and ineffective. This further strained their relationship. The Alliance briefly overlooked their reservations about Gerrera in 1 BBY. They dispatched Jyn Erso and Captain Cassian Andor to Jedha. Their mission was to locate Gerrera and discover what he knew about the Empire's Death Star.
Saw Gerrera was among the first to resist the Galactic Empire's rule. He received rebel training from the Jedi on Onderon during the Clone Wars. As the early rebellion against the Empire grew, Gerrera increasingly used tactics that many other rebel leaders considered excessively brutal and inhumane. This made him a controversial figure within the group that would become the Alliance Council. His actions sparked disagreements between Senators Mon Mothma and Bail Organa, two prominent figures in the rebellion. Between 5 BBY and 2 BBY, Organa contended that Gerrera's harsh methods served the rebellion's goals. He believed that maintaining an alliance with him and his Partisans was worthwhile. Conversely, Mothma, adhering to Jedi principles, argued that compromising moral standards led to the darkness and that Gerrera had crossed that line.
Around 2 BBY, Mothma, in her capacity as Alliance Chief of State, decided to formally censure Gerrera. After informing Organa of her decision, she presented her motion to the Alliance Council, preventing any further contact between Gerrera and rebel forces. The motion passed shortly before the Declaration of the Rebel Alliance, which publicly announced the existence of the Alliance to Restore the Republic. It criticized Gerrera for violating the Ruusan Armistice, which governed humane conduct, and for acting against the rebellion's laws and ideals. This resulted in the Resolution of Censure Condemning Saw Gerrera of the Partisans, which ended his formal association with the Alliance.
Despite the censure, Gerrera's interactions with the Alliance did not end. In 1 BBY, after the Alliance declined to act against an Imperial relay station on Jalindi, Gerrera sent a message to Alliance operatives on Yavin 4. He denounced the Alliance leaders as cowards. Mothma responded directly, calling him a criminal who targeted civilians, before ending the transmission. The Spectres, a rebel group led by Commander Hera Syndulla, eventually carried out the mission with some assistance from Gerrera. Also in 1 BBY, the Alliance sent Jyn Erso and Captain Cassian Andor to find Gerrera on Jedha. They sought to uncover any information he possessed about the Empire's new superweapon, the Death Star. Although Gerrera died when the Death Star destroyed the Holy City on Jedha, the information he provided proved crucial to the discovery of the Death Star plans and the ultimate destruction of the Death Star.
Decades later, a construction crew on Durkteel uncovered an artifact called The Rebel Files while clearing the ruins of the Tak-Beam complex for a comm tower. This document eventually reached the Resistance, led by General Leia Organa. The document contained conversations between Mothma and Bail Organa regarding Gerrera's actions, along with the complete Resolution of Censure Condemning Saw Gerrera of the Partisans. Leia noted that she remembered Gerrera and the debates surrounding him, and that Mothma's position had always been clear.
The end of Saw Gerrera's relationship with the Rebel Alliance was alluded to in the 2016 film Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. Mon Mothma (Genevieve O'Reilly) mentioned Gerrera's separation from the Alliance and the issues caused by his militancy. The official name for the decision that led to his removal from the Alliance, the Resolution of Censure Condemning Saw Gerrera of the Partisans, was established in the 2018 reference book Star Wars: The Rebel Files.