Rights International Spain and the Coordinadora para la Prevención y Denuncia de la Tortura (a network formed by 41 Spanish NGOs that advocates for the prevention of torture) have sent appeals to the human rights commissioner of the Council of Europe, the UN special rapporteur on torture, and the special rapporteur on counter-terrorism and human rights, reporting several human rights challenges of the reform of the Criminal Procedure Act proposed by the new Minister of Justice.

The NGOs claim the government does not take advantage of this opportunity to introduce a series of safeguards against the practice of torture and other police abuses during the detention of individuals, despite the fact that the European Court of Human Rights has ruled against Spain several times for failing to implement its obligations related to the prohibition of torture. Many human rights bodies have established that any person deprived of liberty should have the right to be examined by a doctor of their choice, all police questioning should be videotaped, and the questionings and searches should meet a series of requirements. However, the proposed reform to the Criminal Procedure Act fails to implement these recommendations.

Limited rights

In addition, the law will still allows incommunicado detention for up to 13 days, during which a series of rights are limited: the individuals held in incommunicado detention have no right to appoint a lawyer of their choice, cannot be examined by a doctor of their choice, cannot have a private meeting with their lawyer, cannot have access to the police files (i.e. to the case facts and allegations against them), and cannot contact a relative to inform them of their detention. International human rights bodies have insisted that incommunicado detention should be abolished, given that people held in incommunicado detention are more vulnerable and more likely to be tortured or subject to other police abuses.

The letters also highlight another worrying aspect of the reform: if approved, the minister of interior will be allowed to intercept the private communications of an individual for up to 24 hours without the authorization of a judge. The maximum period during which someone’s communications can be intercepted on a judge's warrant is also excessive: two years in total. According to the organizations, “these regulations are disproportionate and will have an impact not only in the fundamental rights of individuals; more broadly, it will undermine the Rule of Law itself."