A UN official said Feb. 5 that Spain's Law of Political Parties violates fundamental freedoms in the name of counter-terrorism. According to Martin Scheinin, Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms, the law criminalizes as "support of terrorism" conduct that does not relate to any kind of violent activity.
In a 26-page report based on a fact-finding mission to Spain [2] last year, Scheinin finds that the Law of Political Parties might be interpreted to include any political party which through peaceful political means seeks similar political objectives to those pursued by the armed group ETA. The report reiterates that all limitations on the right to political participation must meet strict criteria in order to be compatible with international standards of freedom of speech.
Audiencia Nacional, incommunicado detention, torture
The Special Rapporteur also calls upon the Spanish government to consider placing terrorism cases under the jurisdiction of ordinary district courts, instead of a single central specialized court, the Audiencia Nacional, with exclusive jurisdiction over terrorist crimes. The report finds that judgments issued by the Audiencia Nacional are only subject to review by the Supreme Court.
The report also recommends the "complete eradication of the institution of incommunicado detention" and assurance of "prompt, independent, impartial and thorough investigations are conducted in any case where there is reason to believe ill-treatment may have occurred." (Euskal Herria News [3], Feb. 6)
See our last post on the Basque struggle [4].
