The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has agreed to study the appeals of the nine sentenced to prison terms in the trial of the process. Admission to processing is a difficult procedure to overcome in Strasbourgalthough the relevance of the case made a favorable decision predictable.
The court has agreed to send a list of questions to the Government regarding the plaintiffs’ allegations that several articles of the European Convention. This step is considered a de facto admission to processing, although formally this occurs later. Whatever the final result of the procedure – approval, rejection or even inadmissibility – will have been reached after studying the merits of the matter.
Questions to the Executive are part of the usual procedure of the ECtHR. The Government has until January 12 to respond. The plaintiffs will then have the opportunity to reply to the Executive and with all this the court will decide whether there has been a violation of rights by Spain. Until now, the ECtHR has rejected all claims brought against Spain linked to process.
In line with what was maintained in the appeals, the ECtHR asks the Government to explain, for example, if it considers that the sentences imposed by the Supreme Court were not foreseeable under current law or if there was an extensive interpretation of the crimes of sedition and embezzlement.
It also requests a response to the statement that it was convicted for the mere exercise of the right of association and freedom of expression, which for the plaintiffs would have a deterrent effect on the exercise of those rights. This argument of chilling effect It has been used on several occasions by the ECtHR to hand down sentences.