The judge indicates that they are behaviors protected by freedom of expression
The judge of the National Court José Luis Calama has decided not to prohibit the acts of support for ETA prisoners that Etxerat and Sare have called for New Year’s Eve in Pamplona and Mondragón and which include a tribute to Henri Parot, explaining that these are calls for « the expression of opinions that disturb or shock various sectors of society ”, but that before they are carried out and it is verified if any crime has been committed, they do not fit into criminal law.
«The elements that we have at this moment show that it is the expression of a desire to bring prisoners closer to the Penitentiary Centers of the Basque Country, without entering into the justification or praise of the actions for which they are deprived freedom, conduct protected by the right to free expression in the field of criminal procedure.
Fundamental rights
Thus, it has concluded that “there is no evidence whatsoever that allows to affirm, with the requirement that in Law is required to be able to restrict the fundamental rights of citizens recognized constitutionally, that any crime has occurred or is going to occur, in the acts of summoned ». In this sense, he stressed that “it must be the competent governmental authority who must decide whether the condemnation denounced complies with the regulations for its celebration.”
In addition, he recalled that “only Parliament is entitled to define crimes and their legal consequences,” emphasizing that judges cannot make “an extensive or analogical interpretation” of the crime of glorifying terrorism. However, it has urged the State security forces and bodies to carry out the pertinent control and monitoring of these acts so that, if in the course of them other acts that could constitute crimes take place, “they proceed to identify and, where appropriate, arrest their perpetrators “, something for which – he emphasizes – they do not require a court order because it falls within their” legal obligation. ”
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