Spain top court dismisses Rwanda war crimes case News
Spain top court dismisses Rwanda war crimes case

[JURIST] The Supreme Court of Spain [official website, in Spanish] on Thursdayupheld the dismissal [press release, in Spanish] of a case investigating the Rwandan genocide [JURIST news archive]. Spain modified its universal jurisdiction laws last year, and the court refused to lift the reform requirements (Art. 23, Organic Law 1/2014) [text, in Spanish] from the present case. Unless a Spanish citizen was a victim of the genocide or the war crimes occurred in Spanish territory, the Spanish courts cannot hear the case. The High Court of Spain dismissed this case earlier this year, but on appeal the Supreme Court modified the dismissal to allow for a possible revival of the case. The provisional dismissal requires the case be restarted if at a later point it is discovered that the conditions allow for Spanish jurisdiction, such as if the defendants enter Spanish territory.

Last year Spain’s Parliament approved a bill [JURIST report] that became law and diminished the powers of Spanish courts to pursue cases of genocide and other crimes against humanity committed abroad. Under the new law, Spanish courts would be able to prosecute crimes against humanity committed abroad only if the suspect is a Spanish citizen, a foreigner residing in Spain or a foreigner whose extradition has been denied by Spain. Human Rights Watch (HRW) [advocacy website] and other rights groups issued a joint statement [text, PDF] opposing universal jurisdiction reform in Spain, stating that the bill would “close the doors of Spanish courts to victims of grave human rights violations who are unlikely otherwise to be able to obtain justice, particularly within their own jurisdictions.” Previously, Spain had assertively used universal jurisdiction, creating political friction within the international community. In October 2013 a Spanish court indicted [JURIST report] former Chinese president Hu Jintao over the alleged genocide against Tibetans. The same month, the Spanish government summoned [JURIST report] US Ambassador to Spain James Costos to discuss spying allegations in light of documents released by former National Security Agency (NSA) [official website] contractor Edward Snowden [JURIST news archive].

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