Marcos Pinheiro
09/02/2017
- All groups except the PP ask the Government to repeal the reform that makes it almost impossible to prosecute crimes committed in other countries
- The reform of the PP meant the filing of cases such as the murder of José Couso, the attack on the Freedom Flotilla or the genocide of Tibet
- The consensus in the Justice Commission paves the way to approve an initiative with the status of law presented by the PNV
Former Chinese President Jiang Zemin, investigated for genocide in Tibet. EFE
Congress has approved today a Non-Law Proposition that asks the Government to recover Universal Justice, cut by the PP in 2014, so that the courts can once again investigate crimes in other countries and cases such as the murder of José Couso or the Tibet genocide are reopened. The Unidos Podemos proposal has gone ahead in the Justice Commission with the only opposition from the PP.
The PP reformed Universal Justice in the year 2014, establishing limits on the action of judges that made it practically impossible for them to apply this principle. The result was that numerous cases opened by Spanish magistrates for crimes committed in other countries had to be closed due to the new legislation..
Among the causes affected by the reform, which had the frontal rejection of the opposition, judges and prosecutors, there was the investigation of the murder of cameraman José Couso by US troops in Iraq, the investigation of the assault on the Freedom Flotilla by Israel, or the genocides of the Sahara or Tibet.
The spokesman for Unidos Podemos, Jaume Moya, has cited this research, that affected to two former presidents and six former senior officials of the Chinese government, as the reason why the PP ended Universal Justice. Judge Ismael Moreno even ordered the arrest of several Chinese leaders for torture and crimes against humanity.
Moya ha acusado a los populares de "sumisión a gobiernos extranjeros" por impulsar una reforma que archivó la investigación de un genocidio que "acabó con la vida de un millón doscientosmil tibetanos por la represión china". He has also cited the file of Couso's murder as one of the consequences of the reform.
The PSOE has supported the initiative after Unidos Podemos gave up asking that the reform carried out by this party also be annulled. La diputada socialista Soraya Rodríguez ha lamentado que el PP acabase con una legislación que había puesto a España "a la cabeza del ejercicio de la defensa de los derechos humanos".
In your case, has placed special emphasis on the difficulty of prosecuting crimes such as pedophilia or genital mutilation, because the current wording of the law requires so many requirements that it makes it impossible.
By Citizens, Marcial Gómez has especially criticized the requirement that those investigated have to reside in Spain to be able to act against them., porque este punto supone "una gran limitación" when talking about crimes committed in other countries.
The rest of the groups have agreed in criticizing the reform and in showing their support for recovering the previous wording of the Universal Justice law.. All except the PP, whose spokesperson, Leopoldo Barreda, ha acusado al resto de portavoces de argumentar "con medias verdades".
According to Barreda, derogar la reforma del PP supone "volver a la inseguridad jurídica", "apartarnos de las regulaciones de los países de nuestro entorno", and what he considered most serious, "volver a destinar los recursos de la Justicia a casos que sólo conducen a la frustración".
The approval of this initiative by the Justice Commission paves the way for another proposal, It is already with the force of law. The PNV has registered a Bill on this same issue for which they expect the support of the rest of the groups., and that will be debated in the coming weeks.
More info
- The PP gets the National Court to stop investigating China's crimes in Tibet
- The Couso family asks the parties to repeal the reform that ended universal justice
- The Universal Justice of the PP also ends the investigation of the attack on the Freedom Flotilla
