Abstract
In this chapter we address some notable processes of criminalization of protest in the last decade in Spain, trying to highlight that, although there has been a punitive expansion in this area, it has not been continuous or free of contradictions and it has met both internal and external resistances. The complex dynamics of penal expansion in relation to the repression of protest in Spain will be illustrated through the analysis of four different sociolegal processes: the prosecution of the organizers of the demonstration which triggered the Indignados Movement (2011–2020); the ruling of the Constitutional Court declaring the criminalization of flag desecration in accordance with Constitution (2013–2020); the ruling of the Constitutional Court declaring the Law for the Protection of Citizen Security in accordance with the Constitution (2015–2020), and the denial of the early release from prison to convicted Catalan pro-independence politicians (2017–2020). The chapter concludes with some considerations on the prominence given in the specialized literature to police institutions and the control of demonstrations, rather than to the role of the judiciary and limitations of free speech.
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Notes
- 1.
See the preamble of Ley Orgánica 5/2021, de 22 de abril, de derogación del artículo 315 apartado 3 del Código Penal.
- 2.
See Tarrow (2013).
- 3.
See Toivonen (2017).
- 4.
See Orriols and Cordero (2016).
- 5.
For an account from the perspective of the literature on postfascism, see Bernat and Whyte (2020).
- 6.
See Camps Calvet and Di Nella (2020).
- 7.
According to the official data of the Ministry of Interior. See Ministerio de Interior, Portal Estadístico de Criminalidad. Available at https://estadisticasdecriminalidad.ses.mir.es/publico/portalestadistico/.
- 8.
See Laguna Guzman v. Spain, Application No. 41462/17, 6 October 2020.
- 9.
See Red Jurídica (2019).
- 10.
See Maroto Calatayud (2016).
- 11.
See the decision of the Audiencia Nacional dated October 4, 2012. Available at: https://e00-elmundo.uecdn.es/documentos/2012/10/05/autopedraz.pdf. In another example of delayed “recriminalisation,” in 2021, 8 years after the demonstration of September 29, 2012, the prosecution is demanding sentences ranging from three years and eight months in prison to seven years and four months. The court has not investigated the ill-treatment that the detainees reported having suffered at the hands of police officers. See Ter García (2021).
- 12.
See Dopico (2012).
- 13.
See Cadena Ser (2017).
- 14.
See Maroto Calatayud and Segura Vázquez (2018).
- 15.
See ruling of the Constitutional Court 35/2020, February 25.
- 16.
See Judgment 190/2020 of 15 December 2020. Appeal for amparo 1691-2018.
- 17.
See Maroto Calatayud (2013).
- 18.
See, for example, the report by the Consejo General del Poder Judicial, “Informe al Anteproyecto de Ley Orgánica de Protección de la Seguridad Ciudadana,” 7 de enero de 2014; also the report on the proposal by the Consejo General de la Abogacía, “Observaciones que presenta el consejo general de la abogacía al proyecto de ley orgánica de protección de la seguridad ciudadana,” October 17, 2014.
- 19.
Fernandez Bessa, 2018.
- 20.
See Judgement of the Audiencia Nacional 20/2018, May 17, 2018.
- 21.
See Ministry of Interior “Comunicación del Ministro del Interior a los Delegados del Gobierno sobre incoación de procedimientos sancionadores por presunta infracción del art. 36.6 de la ley orgánica 4/2015, de 30 de marzo, de protección de la seguridad ciudadana, y criterios para las propuestas de sanción,” April 14, 2020.
- 22.
See Ruling 172/2020 of 19 November 2020. Appeal of unconstitutionality 2896-2015.
- 23.
See Judgement 035/2017 of the Juzgados Centrales de lo Penal, December 21, 2017, and Judgement N° 14/18 of the Audiencia Nacional. Sala de lo Penal, May 4, 2018. The accused was first convicted of an offence of insulting the king, and then acquitted by the higher body. Similar complaints had been outright rejected in 2009 by the Audiencia Nacional. See Resolution of the Juzgado Central de Instrucción n. 1, July 15, 2009.
- 24.
See note 21.
- 25.
See Ruling No. 277/2018 Supreme Court. Criminal Chamber, 8 June 2018.
- 26.
See “La delegada del Gobierno en Madrid compara el 25S con ‘un golpe de Estado’”, eldiario.es, September 25, 2012.
- 27.
See Ruling No. 459/2019. Supreme Court Criminal Chamber, 14 October 2019.
- 28.
See Judgment of the Audiencia Nacional No. 31/2014 of 7 July, and Judgment of the Supreme Court No. 161/2015 of 17 March.
- 29.
See Supreme Court, Special Cause 20907/2017, ejecutorias 1.2019 to 9-2019. Available at: https://www.poderjudicial.es/cgpj/es/Poder-Judicial/Tribunal-Supremo/Noticias-Judiciales/El-Tribunal-Supremo-revoca-el-tercer-grado-a-los-nueve-presos-de-la-causa-del-Proces-por-considerarlo-prematuro. For the most complete account of the open prison regime, see Rodriguez Yagüe (2021).
- 30.
See Gonzalez Sanchez (2019), p. 3.
- 31.
See “Òmnium denuncia una segunda ola de juicios políticos contra independentistas,” www.elnacional.cat, March 5, 2021. According to Òmnium, a pro-independence organisation whose own leader, Jordi Cuixart, has been in prison since 2017, 3,301 people have been “repressed” and 115 legal cases have been opened for “political reasons” since 2017.
- 32.
See Gonzalez Sanchez (2019).
- 33.
See an important contribution to the understanding of the exclusionary characteristics of Spanish democracy, in comparison with Portuguese democracy, in Fishman (2019). I would like to thank José Ángel Brandariz for sharing the reference with me.
- 34.
- 35.
See Comisión Legal Sol (2015), p. 126.
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Maroto Calatayud, M. (2023). Contentious Politics and Penal Expansion in Spain: A Decade of Criminalization of Protest. In: Demetrio Crespo, E., García Figueroa, A., Marcilla Córdoba, G. (eds) Crisis of the Criminal Law in the Democratic Constitutional State. Legal Studies in International, European and Comparative Criminal Law, vol 6. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-13413-5_14
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