Popular Party moves to fast-track amendment of universal justice law

The ruling conservative Popular Party has initiated proceedings to use its absolute majority in Congress to fast-track amendments to the so-called universal justice law.

In doing so it wants to see a number of embarrassing universal justice cases — involving, for example, alleged genocide in Tibet, or the killing of Spanish cameraman José Couso in Iraq by US soldiers — shelved as quickly as possible in a bid to avoid diplomatic conflicts.

Spain has so far made active use of the principle of universal justice, with crusading magistrate Baltasar Garzón famously issuing an arrest warrant for Chilean dictator General Pinochet for crimes against humanity while he was receiving medical treatment in Britain during the Conservative government of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.

The most recent detonator for the PP’s attempts to virtually do away with the law was the arrest warrant issued by the Spanish High Court for former Chinese President Jiang Zemin, ex-Premier Li Peng and three other top Chinese officials for alleged torture and genocide in Tibet under their watch during the 1980s and 1990s. China has expressed its condemnation of the move, while Spain is keen to develop economic ties with the Asian giant.

The PP’s move has angered rights groups, members of the judiciary and the entire opposition in Congress, which has announced that it will vote against the measure.

Instead of drafting a bill that would have to get the green light from the General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ), the State Council and other institutions, the Justice Ministry is instead aiming to bypass all these controls, and put its amendments into effect within a month.

The formula adopted by the PP would avoid the passage of its bill through parliamentary commissions

As such, the PP on Monday presented a proposal in Congress to restrict the reach of the universal law to cases involving Spanish citizens or foreign citizens whose habitual residence is in Spain, or was in Spain at the time of the incident in question, and whose extradition has been rejected by the Spanish authorities.

The formula adopted by the PP would avoid the passage of its bill through parliamentary commissions with accompanying votes on amendments to the ruling party’s proposed legislation. Instead, the procedure would involve a straight vote of a full session of Congress and then in the Senate, which would have 20 days instead of the usual two months either to approve it or introduce amendments. The PP is aiming for the vote in Congress to take place on March 13 and for the Senate to approve it before the end of next month.

The main opposition Socialist Party (PSOE) is considering appealing the PP’s intended amendments with the Constitutional Court because it believes that they breach international treaties to which Spain is a party, and which have the same force in law as the Constitution. High Court judges and prosecutors may also question whether the amendments are in breach of the Constitution.

If the PP manages to hasten the passage of the law it would mean about a dozen cases under universal jurisdiction pending resolution would be shelved. According to High Court prosecutors, the changes would make it more difficult to intercept ships believed to be carrying drugs in international waters, and to intervene in cases of international terrorism and pederasty.