THE WORLD › AFTER THE APPROVAL WITH THE VOTES OF THE PP OF A REFORM THAT RESTRICTS INVESTIGATING CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY
All opposition groups agreed to describe it as “unconstitutional.”” annul the pending cases in which crimes committed outside the national territory are being tried. They will present an appeal.
Thursday, 13 February 2014
By Flor Ragucci
Page/12 In Spain
From Barcelona
Universal Justice no longer concerns Spain. Since on Tuesday the Popular Party (PP) approved alone to limit the law that authorizes judges to investigate crimes committed outside the national territory, the defenselessness of the Spanish is much greater. With the unanimous rejection of the opposition, Mariano Rajoy's party gave the green light in the Congress of Deputies for the entry into force of its proposal to restrict a rule that since 1985 It is a model for all of Europe.
Thanks to the Spanish legislation on universal Justice, Baltasar Garzón ordered the arrest in London of the Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet in 1998 and former Argentine military man Adolfo Scilingo was convicted of crimes against humanity in 2005. The National Court has cases in progress such as the murder in Iraq of television cameraman José Couso, the abuse of human rights against Sahrawi activists, a complaint against Nazi guards, CIA flights, the genocide in Rwanda or the massacres in Tibet.
But the PP established that the causes that, at the time of entry into force of the law, are being processed are dismissed “until compliance with the established requirements is proven.”. All opposition groups agreed to describe it as “unconstitutional.”” the filing of open cases as a result of restricting the conditions under which a Spanish judge can investigate crimes committed outside the national territory and accused the government of “overriding the rights of Spaniards by bowing to the demands of countries like China.”.
The spokesman for the United Left (IU), Gaspar Llamazares, accused the government of “exchanging human rights for commercial rights”, in reference to relations with the government of the Asian country and, like the rest of the opposition voices, considered that the PP “aims to avoid inconvenience to the tyranny of China”, after the good results of the complaint presented by Lama Thubten Wangchen against the crimes committed against the Tibetan population.
The Socialist Party (PSOE), For its part, He asked the popular party to “withdraw the proposal because it would place Spain's international reputation at the bottom in the defense of crimes against human rights.”. The PSOE spokesperson in Congress, Soraya Rodríguez, He also predicted that the Spanish government “may be denounced because the modification of universal jurisdiction is something contrary to international conventions.”. In fact, all opposition groups will unite, once the law comes into force, to file an appeal for unconstitutionality.
No one was convinced by the argument given by deputy José Miguel Castillo, of the Popular Group, that this legislation is unnecessary because the International Criminal Court already exists to try cases of crimes against humanity. “The court and universal Justice are complementary, “non-subsidiaries”, he responded to Llamazares. From the PP they defend themselves by arguing that, with the reform, The list of crimes that can be acted upon is expanded, such as cases of gender violence and sexual abuse of children, while with the current law “a quixotic Justice is established, "without any result".
The resolution of the popular parliamentary group came the same day that the government of the Asian giant threatened the Spanish with possible retaliation, following the international arrest warrant against five former Chinese leaders issued on Monday by National Court judge Ismael Moreno. Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said it was a “wrong decision.”” and that he hopes that Spain can manage the matter “in an appropriate manner for the proper development of bilateral relations.”. Neither dull nor lazy, The Congress of Deputies debated the proposed organic law of the PP to limit the universal jurisdiction of Spanish judges that allowed the investigation of crimes against humanity in Tibet, as a result of a complaint filed in 2008 by the Tibet Support Committee and by Lama Thubten Wangchen, Tibetan monk of Spanish nationality. The arrest order issued by Judge Moreno includes Jiang Zemin, who was president of China between 1993 and 2003; Li Peng, prime minister of 1988 a 1998, and three other former leaders accused of genocide, torture and crimes against humanity against the population of the autonomous region of Tibet in the 1980s and 1990s.
With the PP proposal, The crimes of the so-called universal jurisdiction will be prosecutable as long as those criminally responsible are Spaniards or foreigners with Spanish nationality and, in the case of forced disappearances and torture, It also limits the investigation to the victim being Spanish at the time of the events and the accused being in the Iberian country.. For this reason, The case for the massacres in Tibet would now be archived, given that all the defendants are Chinese citizens.
Not only would the case against the Asian leaders be shelved with the new legislation, but also other cases that shocked Spain, like death in 2003 of television cameraman José Couso in Iraq, since the accused soldiers are US citizens. This Tuesday, after the vote in Congress, The journalist's family asked all parliamentary groups to prevent legal reform, in the same way that he had done before through a letter Amnesty International (see apart), along with others 16 organizations in defense of human rights.
Former judge of the National Court Baltasar Garzón also requested that the reform of the universal jurisdiction law be withdrawn, since it would leave Spain without the power to “pursue or investigate crimes against humanity”, At the same time, he criticized the PP for “its voracity when it comes to restricting rights.”.
