MADRID, 25 Oct. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Supreme Court (TS) pointed out that in European countries, such as Germany or France, behaviors similar to the Spanish crime of sedition are punished with up to life imprisonment, to thus discard the argument that the penalties imposed on those convicted of the ‘procés’ were disproportionate.
This was reflected by the Criminal Chamber in the report issued as part of the processing of the pardons requested in favor of the nine sentenced to prison terms for the ‘procés’, who finally received a measure of grace.
The debate on the reform of the crime of sedition, a commitment assumed by Pedro Sánchez upon his arrival in Moncloa, has been reactivated in recent days in the context of the negotiation with ERC of its support for the General State Budgets. The Socialists justify their reform in that the penalties provided for this crime in other European countries are lower than in Spain.
However, this matter has already been dealt with by the Supreme Court, stating that “the criticism of the punitive excess of the crime of sedition punished in article 544 of the Penal Code (…) cannot be the result of the semantic comparison of that figure with criminal types in force in foreign systems”.
In this sense, he explained that, if only the name assigned to the criminal type is taken into account, “the North American system reserves that denomination for the most serious form of attack against the United States Government.”
Regardless of the nomenclature, the Second Chamber pointed out that article 81 of the German CP “punishes with life imprisonment or imprisonment for at least 10 years anyone who with force or threat of force takes action to undermine the continued existence of the Republic Federal Republic of Germany or to change the constitutional order”.
He found a similar regulation in France, where he recalled that articles 410.1, 412.3 and 412.4 of his CP “punish with particularly serious penalties –which can reach life imprisonment for the leaders of the insurrectionary movement– attacks on the fundamental interests of the nation, understanding as such its independence, the integrity of its territory, its security and the republican form of its institutions”.
With lesser but high penalties, the Second Chamber mentioned the case of Belgium, where “the attack that aims to destroy or change the form of government or the order of succession to the throne is punished with a sentence of 20 to 30 years, imposing the same penalty for the consummated and attempted crime.
He also referred to Portugal, which in article 308 of its CP includes as “the crime of treason, with a sentence of 10 to 20 years in prison, whoever, with abuse of sovereign functions, tries to separate a part of the Portuguese territory from the homeland “.
He also alluded to Italy, whose article 241 of the CP “sanctions violent attacks against the integrity, independence or unity of the State with a custodial sentence of not less than 12 years.”
However, the legal sources consulted by Europa Press explain that the conduct described in these criminal precepts could go beyond the Spanish type of sedition, coming closer to rebellion.
Article 544 of our CP defines as prisoners of sedition those who, “without being included in the crime of rebellion, rise up publicly and in a mob to prevent, by force or outside legal channels, the application of the laws or any authority , official corporation or public official the legitimate exercise of their functions or the fulfillment of their agreements or administrative or judicial resolutions”.
In the following precept, the CP establishes that “those who have induced, supported or directed the sedition or appear in it as its main authors will be punished with a prison sentence of 8 to 10 years, and with 10 to 15 years, if they were persons constituted in authority”, to which it adds that “in both cases, absolute disqualification will also be imposed for the same time”.
On the other hand, 472 says that “those who rise up violently and publicly” are guilty of the crime of rebellion” for certain purposes, including “repealing, suspending or modifying the Constitution in whole or in part”, “declaring the independence of a part of the national territory” and “replace the Government of the nation or the Government Council of an autonomous community with another, or use or exercise” their functions. Here, the penalties range from 10 to 30 years, depending on the degree of involvement and the force used.
