THE COUNTRY: Discontent in the National Court due to the cut to universal justice

The decision of the Government of put a fast-track stop to the so-called universal justice before the actions of the Spanish judges generate new diplomatic conflicts with giants such as China or the United States, has been received with irritation among a sector of the magistrates of the National Court. “It's outrageous. “The Government strikes down universal jurisdiction as a matter of pure convenience.”, maintains an investigating magistrate of the Court after analyzing the parliamentary initiative by which the PP seeks the express reform of the Organic Law of the Judiciary to limit the scope of jurisdiction for crimes committed outside Spanish territory. The movement of Mariano Rajoy's Executive also provokes rejection —both for its background and for its forms— of a good part of the opposition parties.

The legislative reform, to be approved, will mean shelving a large part of the cases investigated by judges of the National Court on crimes of genocide, torture, human trafficking or piracy, inter alia, committed abroad, like the investigation of the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party for the genocide in Tibet or the genocide in Guatemala.

In general, Only procedures in which the alleged perpetrator or victim is of Spanish nationality will be saved from the archive., or those in which the action is directed against a foreigner residing in Spain. In cases of genocide, against humanity and forced disappearance, Action may also be taken against foreign citizens who are temporarily in Spain.. However, with the new text, In order to undertake an international investigation, a complaint from the prosecutor's office or from an injured party will be necessary., requirement that did not exist until now. Magistrates retain the possibility of exercising universal justice when the State in which the events occurred cannot or does not want to investigate these crimes., but it will be Second Chamber of the Supreme Court which must determine if this abandonment of functions occurs.

A consulted magistrate maintains that the reform is a “opportunistic measure” to please the Chinese authorities and preserve trade relations between the two countries. “But what the judge has to do is scrupulously adhere to the law”, remember. another magistrate, in this case instructor, consider the possibility of, as he is forced to close cases, raise questions of unconstitutionality by understanding that archiving the cases would mean failing to comply with the international treaties that bind Spain and that, according to the Constitution, They are part of the internal order.

A third investigating magistrate recalls that universal jurisdiction “is not a matter of enlightened judges nor a minority position.”. “Spain has historically been a pioneer in universal jurisdiction and the defense of human rights.”, Even if we go back to the Dominicans Fray Bartolome de las Casas [protector of the indigenous people in the conquest of America] Francisco de Vitoria. Now Spain is the inventor of modern universal justice, that tries to repress a handful of crimes that the international community as a whole considers especially execrable.”, he claims.

This same instructor recognizes that in extrajudicial settings there is a “feeling” that “the fact that the Spanish justice system, so little resources, “spending efforts to get into international eleven rods shirts is an unnecessary waste”, and that this has no more fruit than generating conflicts with third countries. For example, investigations in Latin American countries have been interpreted by some sectors as “colonialist” interference” in its internal affairs.

Despite everything, This magistrate unreservedly defends universal justice and advocates “strengthening the mechanisms of international criminal courts.”.

Faced with the discomfort of the judges —or at least a sector of them—, In the Prosecutor's Office of the National Court, some voices criticize that "it has been the magistrates themselves who have abused universal justice with some causes that are little more than toasts to the sun". Sources from the public ministry defend the validity of extraterritorial justice procedures and recall that the prosecution promoted, inter alia, those of the Western Sahara, El Salvador, Guatemala, the murder of Carmelo Soria in Chile or that of the Freedom Flotilla.

Yesterday the opposition parties radically rejected the legal reform that will be approved in the month of February, according to congressional forecasts. The person in charge of Organization of the PSOE, Oscar Lopez, rejected the formula of the majority party's bill, which is as unusual as it is the first in two years of legislature that the PP presents. Also because consensus has not been sought and the process of consultative reports is avoided.

The PSOE registered yesterday in Congress the request for him to appear the minister of justice, Alberto Ruiz-Gallardón, and explain it.

The UPyD deputy Irene Lozano He regretted that the PP skips “the procedures and forces democratic legitimacy”. Lozano has addressed a written question to the Government to know if it is about “finally getting President Rajoy invited by the Chinese dictatorship on a business trip”.

He also rejects the reform of the PP United Left deputy Gaspar Llamazares, who yesterday registered a battery of initiatives that include urgent requests for the appearance of the Minister of Justice, of the attorney general of the State and the president of the General Council of the Judiciary, Carlos Lesmes, to give explanations in the lower house.