Neo-Nazi ideas not illegal, Spain's Supreme Court says
The 3rd of June after almost 8 years from the first arrest 4 Spanish comrades were acquitted of the "crimes" they were accused for by the Spanish Supreme Court.
They were the owner of the "Kalki" bookshop, the leader and a member of the cultural association ‘Circulo de Estudios Indoeuropeos’ (Circle of Indoeuropean Studies), and the owner of the book editor company "Ediciones Nueva Republica" (New Republic Editions).
All were condemned by a regional court to sentences that range till 3 years of prison for spreading publications that minimize the so called Holocaust, promoted the III Reich and talked about the discrimination of blacks and homosexuals, and for being part of an illegal association with a paramilitary section.
The Supreme Court stated that the Spanish Constitution "do not forbid ideologies" or the "extremist ideas" and that "the ideas, as such, must not be prosecuted" in spite of being, like in this case "abominable". "The tolerance with all kind of ideas, that it is imposed by the freedom of ideology and speech does not mean acceptation or comprehension, only that the ideas, as such, must not be criminally prosecuted".
This sentence was also based in previous sentences of the Constitutional Court that said that "At the shelter of the freedom of speech all ideas have a place, even if they are dangerous of wrong, even the ones that attack the democratic system. The Constitution protects also to the persons that deny the Constitution"
Even though the freedom of ideology and speech to not cover under their protection the insult against groups, or the generation of hostility against them, something forbidden by the Spanish Penal Code. Therefore in this sentence they say for first time how must be this "offences" be interpreted. They say that "It is not enough to spread doctrines that justify the offence of Genocide or that excuse it. It is necessary that the diffusion constitutes a direct incitement to the commission or that could create an 'opinion tendency' or sentiments that could lead to the danger of committing specific acts of discrimination, hate, violence against groups or the members of groups"
"It is not only just the diffusion, but the diffusion in circumstances of creating a real danger"
"In this case none of the accused made any act of promotion, public defence, incitation about the doctrine of the books they sold, neither recommended to put them in practice"
The accused proved that the books they sold could be bought in other libraries and they were even in the National Library, where any citizen could ask for them and read it.
We congratulate for this decision of the Supreme Court, and now after many years of paying lawyers, of business closed, and work stopped by the denounces of SOS Racism, Amical de Mauthausen, and the Jewish Community of Barcelona this comrades are finally FREE!!!
Some “chosen people” is not very happy with this sentence:
Spanish Jews outraged at acquittal of neo-Nazis by High Court
06 June 2011
The Jewish Community Federation of Spain (FCJE) has strongly criticized the decision by the High Court to quash a lower court’s decision which had found four persons linked to the now-defunct Kalki bookshop in Barcelona guilty of incitement to hatred and anti-Semitism. The four were convicted in 2009 by a Barcelona court and sentenced to prison terms of up to three-and-a-half years. The High Court in Madrid now ruled that the men could be found guilty only if they had incited people to commit Nazi-type crimes. It said the Spanish Constitution did not prohibit ideologies, no matter how repulsive they might be.
“We Jews are very worried that the Spanish judiciary, which in certain situations shows a lot of sensitivity, does not consider the sale of books in which the Holocaust is denied and racism propagated an offence banned by our laws,” the umbrella body of Spanish Jewry said in a statement. CJE voiced its support for proposals to amend and clarify laws in order to prohibit any activities that incite to hatred based on religious, ethnic and related criteria - including the public denial of the Holocaust - as is required by a European Union directive which Spain has yet to implement.
Israel also strongly attacked the High Court ruling. Its Embassy in Madrid said in a statement: “Israel believes that this decision gives support to racist violence and shows a lack of historic knowledge.” It added that the ruling was reason for “sadness and concern.”
The sentence in the media:
Neo-Nazi ideas not illegal, Spain's Supreme Court says
Jun 3, 2011, 13:17 GMT
Madrid - Propagating neo-Nazi ideas is not a crime if they are not used to incite violence, Spain's Supreme Court ruled Friday.
The court acquitted four neo-Nazis who had appealed against a three-and-a-half year prison sentence imposed by a lower court.
The four, who had a far-right bookshop and publishing house in Barcelona, were charged with advocating genocide and belonging to an illegal association.
Neo-Nazi ideas 'deserved a clear rejection' and should not be propagated by the authorities, but freedom of expression also applied to 'offensive and unpopular' material, the court said.
Neo-Nazi ideas were illegal only when they clearly risked 'creating a hostile climate' which could lead to violence, the court said.
A little background of the case
The 25 of May of 2004 three members of the cultural association ‘Circulo de Estudios Indoeuropeos’ (Circle of Indoeuropean Studies) were arrested in Spain, in the region of Cataluña, by the regional police.
The C.E.I was a legal cultural association, inscribed in the registry of associations of the Spanish Home Office / Department of the Interior, and all their publications and magazines had ISBN / legal deposit. They had delegations in the regions of Cataluña, Madrid, Andalucía, Valencia, Guadalajara, Asturias, and also in México.
The three arrested were: Ramon Bau, 56 years, president of CEI, member in the past of the Spanish NS org CEDADE, that among other activities, during the 60’s and 70’s helped to publish the books that were forbidden in other European countries. Apart from being a respectable man, that has never made any speech or written in favour of the violent acts, is a well known comrade in other countries and edits the magazine ‘Bajo la Tirania’ (Under the Tyranny). ; Oscar P.G, 27 years old, delegate in the region of Cataluña of CEI, and owner of the Kalki bookstore, that was also raided by the police in June of 2003 and is waiting for the judgement of his case; and Carlos G.S, 35 years old, member of CEI and usual writer in the CEI magazines.
They were accused of forming and illegal association for the distribution of material that incites to the discrimination, the hate and violence against groups for racial motivations and for the negation of the jewish holocaust; justification of the genocide; for committing offences against the exercise of the fundamental rights and public liberties, and against the international community.
A section of CEI was called ‘the Order’, but was not a combat group or related with anything violent, they were focussed in the spiritual aspects of the NS. Anyway, as they used uniforms, they had ranks, and hierarchy, the police have considered that they were an “illegal paramilitary association, organised in combat units with the aim of the active resistance against the system, including the use of weapons”.
This was completely false, this section was focussed in the cultural fight, and the unique weapons they have found are daggers, knifes, swords and a Co2 gun, not in the locals of CEI but in the houses of the comrades arrested. So, for being a ‘paramilitary’ group, they were a quite strange one, because the reality is that they didn’t do any kind of fight / combat training, they didn’t practise with or had any kind of fire weapons, their chief has more than 60 years, and their most dangerous activities were excursions and marches in the mountains.
The real aim of the ‘Circulo de Estudios Indoeuropeos’ was to preserve the legacy and ideas of the NS, but without any purpose of forming a political party, or to take part in the democratic elections, or to arrive to the power by the use of force. They tried always to respect the Spanish law, but without having fear to be situated near the border of the law. A prove of that is that they decided to host their website in a Spanish server, to be subjected to the Spanish laws.
The 27 of May of 2004, the three comrades got the freedom with charges, and one of them was been released on bail of 3.000 euros/$.
A huge quantity of material was confiscated, including flags, books, posters, magazines, stickers, uniforms, armbands, pins, helmets, videos, Cd's, swords, SS daggers, and even personal objects of this comrades.
After this attack to the freedom of thinking of the human being, after this outrage to comrades that have never been involved in violent acts and have only tried defend our white race and our ideals the Spanish NS’s could not stand quiet, and diverse groups are preparing an Unitarian NS demonstration in the streets of Barcelona.
Thanks for your attention. 14/88
No comments:
Post a Comment