Life | 15/10/2015
Madrid, 15 oct (EFE).- Amnesty International has asked political parties to reestablish universal justice in Spain in the next legislature, que ha pasado de ser un "país de referencia" a estar "a la cola" en "la lucha contra la impunidad de los peores crímenes".
In a statement, la organización critica el "grave retroceso" that has occurred in Spain after the reform of universal justice approved in 2014 by the PP, taking advantage of the fact that today is the 17 anniversary of the arrest of Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet in London, thanks to an arrest order from Judge Baltasar Garzón.
"La jurisdicción universal es una de las herramientas más importantes en la lucha contra la impunidad, as it allows a judge from any state to investigate the most heinous crimes, independientemente de dónde se cometió el delito o de la nacionalidad de los autores o víctimas", Esteban Beltrán explains in the note, director of Amnesty International Spain.
Amnistía denuncia que España va "a contracorriente", since while in other countries steps are being taken to have their judges hear about these cases, con la última reforma "se hace prácticamente desaparecer la jurisdicción universal", as shown by the number of cases that the National Court has had to archive due to lack of consequence.
This is the case of the cause of the death of journalist José Couso in Iraq, the genocide investigations in Tibet and Rwanda, the torture in Guantánamo, inter alia.
The organization recalls that in the face of the regressive trend of universal justice in Spain, at the moment 163 States, that is to say, More than 80 % of the members of the United Nations, have legislation that allows them to apply the principle of universal jurisdiction with respect to one or more crimes under international law or ordinary crimes classified in national law.
This is what happens with the trial in Senegal of the former president of Chad, Hissène Habré, the judicial investigation opened in Argentina for the crimes of Franco's regime and the civil war in Spain, as well as for genocide and crimes against humanity committed during the Alfredo Stroessner regime in Paraguay.
