2023-09-11 00:26:59
MANUEL MARRACO
Madrid
Updated Monday, September 11, 2023 – 00:26
Since the 2014 reform, the prosecution of war crimes abroad requires that the alleged perpetrator be in Spain.
The deceased Spanish aid worker, Emma, in Ukraine.EL MUNDO
The Spanish Justice has no possibility of investigating the death of the aid worker Emma Igual. It had it until 2014 when a reform of universal justice limited investigations into events that occurred abroad to cases in which the person responsible for it was in Spain.
A conscious attack on the civilian population entails the commission of a war crime, according to the Geneva Convention and the Spanish Penal Code. But since it has occurred abroad, its persecution requires compliance with the conditions contemplated in the Organic Law of the Judiciary (LOPJ).
In its article 23, which regulates universal justice, it indicates when the Spanish jurisdiction will be competent to investigate crimes committed abroad against the persons and property protected in the event of armed conflict: only when the procedure is directed against a Spaniard or against a citizen. foreigner who habitually resides in Spain, or against a foreigner who is in Spain and whose extradition has been denied.
The wording corresponds to the reform approved by the Popular Party in 2014. A few years before the PSOE had carried out another cut in universal justice. The legal modifications occurred after universal justice procedures proliferated in the National Court. They affected countries like China (due to Tibet and Falun Gong), the United States (death of journalist Jos Couso), Israel (attacks in Gaza) or Morocco (Sahrawi conflict), so they represented a headache for successive governments.
José Couso
The first reform of José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero limited investigations to cases with some relevant connection with Spain. This kept delicate cases open, which is why Mariano Rajoy’s next reform required that the alleged perpetrator be in Spain. This time yes, the entry into force caused a cascading file of universal justice cases.
Among them, the one referring to the death of Telecinco cameraman Jos Couso in Baghdad by shots from an American tank. This is the case most similar to what happened yesterday: attack on the civilian population in an armed conflict.
Initially, the judge in the case tried to keep the Couso procedure open, relying on Spain’s international commitments, in particular the Geneva Convention. However, the Supreme Court rejected this interpretation and considered that Spanish law was clear and imposed the archive.
He did so, of course, with criticism of a cut in universal justice that imposed such a substantial restriction on the rights of Spanish citizens who are victims of such crimes abroad. It also highlighted that the most serious crimes (genocide, crimes against humanity) were the ones that received the most restrictions.
The reform embraces a limited model of Universal Jurisdiction, which as a general rule excludes investigation and prosecution in absentia, which is why it requires that those responsible be Spanish or located in Spain. Well, this restrictive model […] it leads to clear results that must necessarily be complied with, affirmed the Supreme Court.
The law criticized by the Supreme Court is still in force. In the previous legislature, PSOE and Podemos committed to deactivating the PP reform, but in the end they did not do so.
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