{"id":39233,"date":"2018-02-22T17:41:30","date_gmt":"2018-02-22T16:41:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.brennerbasisdemokratie.eu\/?p=39233"},"modified":"2019-04-30T22:37:58","modified_gmt":"2019-04-30T20:37:58","slug":"spain-condemned-by-amnesty-international","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.brennerbasisdemokratie.eu\/?p=39233","title":{"rendered":"Spain \u2018condemned\u2019 by Amnesty International."},"content":{"rendered":"

The Amnesty International Report 2017\/18<\/strong> \u2014 The state of the world’s human rights<\/em> has been presented in Washington D. C. today. We’re publishing some excerpts relating to the situation in Catalonia, to which has been given much space in the chapter dedicated to Spain:<\/p>\n

SPAIN<\/strong>
\nKingdom of Spain<\/strong>
\nHead of state: King Felipe VI de Borb\u00f3n<\/strong>
\nHead of government: Mariano Rajoy<\/strong><\/p>\n

The rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly of Catalan independence supporters were disproportionally restricted. Dozens of people were prosecuted for \u201cglorification of terrorism\u201d and \u201chumiliation of victims\u201d on social media. Law enforcement officials used excessive force against demonstrators peacefully resisting the enforcement of the High Court of Justice of Catalonia’s ruling stopping the Catalan independence referendum. Spain relocated fewer asylum-seekers than it had pledged to under the EU relocation scheme, and resettled fewer refugees than it had committed to. Thousands of people continued to face forced evictions. The authorities continued to close investigations into crimes under international law committed during the Civil War and the Franco regime.<\/p>\n

[\u2026]<\/p>\n

FREEDOMS OF EXPRESSION AND ASSEMBLY<\/strong>
\nFollowing the Constitutional Court decision of 7 September aimed at preventing the referendum, some authorities disproportionately restricted the rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly. Courts in Madrid and Vitoria in the Basque country prohibited two public assemblies aimed at supporting the referendum. The municipality of Castelldefels in Catalonia adopted a blanket ban on the use of public spaces for assemblies aimed at supporting or protesting against the referendum.
\nOn 16 October, a High Court judge ordered the pre-trial detention of Jordi Cuixart and Jordi S\u00e1nchez, the presidents of two pro- Catalan-independence organizations. They were detained and charged with sedition, a broadly defined offence, in connection with protests they organized in Barcelona on 20 and 21 September to, according to a judge, oppose a lawful police operation. In November, the Supreme Court took charge of the proceedings against Jordi S\u00e1nchez and Jordi Cuixart. The Supreme Court extended the investigation against them to the offence of rebellion.
\nDozens of people were prosecuted for \u201cglorification of terrorism\u201d and \u201chumiliation of victims\u201d on social media networks. In many instances, authorities pressed criminal charges against people who had expressed opinions that did not constitute incitement to a terrorism-related offence and fell within the permissible forms of expression under international human rights law. [\u2026]<\/p>\n

EXCESSIVE USE OF FORCE<\/strong>
\nLaw enforcement officials policing protests on 1 October in Catalonia used excessive force against peaceful protesters who were opposing a police operation. The police fired blank cartridges and rubber bullets, seriously injuring one person and causing him to lose the sight in one eye.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And that’s what Salil Shetty, Secretary General of Amnesty International<\/em> said to catalan public broadcaster TV3:<\/p>\n