In a letter addressed to the Minister of Justice of Spain, made public today, the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, Dunja Mijatović invites the Spanish authorities to amend in a comprehensive manner the Criminal Code to strengthen existing safeguards of the right to freedom of expression and facilitate the work of Spanish courts in making decisions in full line with Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights.
She notes that a growing number of criminal convictions, including custodial sentences, have in recent years been handed over on artists for controversial lyrics and other performances, and on social media activists for statements considered offensive on grounds of several Criminal Code provisions, in particular provisions on glorification of terrorism and on libels and insults to the Crown.
The Commissioner expresses concerns about the lack of clear definition of some of the notions enshrined in the provision on glorification of terrorism and recalls the potential danger posed by the use, in anti-terrorist legislation, of catch-all labels and of broad and insufficiently defined offences which may lead to unnecessary or disproportionate restrictions to the right to freedom of expression.
Commissioner for Human Rights website
Letter from the Commissioner for Human Rights to the Minister of Justice of Spain
Reply from the Minister of Justice of Spain