Interim Report - Report No 78, 1965

Case No 383 (Spain) - Complaint date: 26-MAR-64 - Closed

1. 248. The complaint is contained in a telegram dated 26 March 1964. Subsequently, the complainants sent additional information on 3 July and 13 August 1964. Both the complaint and the additional information were forwarded to the Government, which replied in communications dated 14 May and 14 October 1964.
2. 249. Spain has not ratified the Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87) or the Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining Convention, 1949 (No. 98).

A. A. The complainants' allegations

1. 250. The complainants stated in their original complaint that the trade union leaders Francisco Calle, Agustin Mariano and José Cases had been arrested and prosecuted for trade union activities. The Government stated in its reply of 14 May 1964 that the persons referred to were undergoing trial and were at the disposal of the competent legal authorities of the ordinary court on a charge of constituting an illegal association and carrying on illegal propaganda. The Government explained that this charge had no connection with trade union activities. Subsequently the complainants reported, when sending additional information on 3 July 1964, that the arrested persons had been placed at the disposal of the special court dealing with matters of public order and that the Public Prosecutor had demanded separate penalties for the offences of illegal association and carrying on illegal propaganda. According to the complainants the illegal association referred to in the charge was the establishment of the Trade Union Alliance, and the illegal propaganda was really the carrying on by the accused of trade union activities. On 8 August 1964 the complainants reported that severe penalties had been pronounced against the three persons concerned, in violation of human and trade union rights in Spain.
2. 251. The Government stated in its communication of 14 October 1964 that the persons referred to had been arrested not for trade union activities but for activities of political subversion and illegal association aimed at changing by violence the existing order in the Spanish State. The trial had been carried on before a civil court consisting of three judges belonging to the Spanish professional bench with the participation of the Public Prosecutor's Office, and the accused had been duly represented by a court solicitor and defended by three counsel chosen freely by themselves. The court, having observed all the provisions of the 1882 Act governing criminal trials, had pronounced judgment on 6 August 1964, sentencing the accused after they had been found guilty of the offence of illegal association in accordance with the definition and penalties laid down in sections 172 (3), 173 (3) and 175 (4) of the ordinary Penal Code of Spain, and of the offence of carrying on subversive propaganda in accordance with the definition and penalties laid down in section 251 (1) of this Code.
3. 252. The Committee observes that the persons in question were sentenced, according to the statement of the Government, under the provisions of various sections of the Penal Code. Section 172 (3) provides that associations prohibited by the competent authority shall be considered illegal associations. Section 173 (3) stipulates that the preceding section shall be deemed to apply to associations, organisations, political parties and other bodies declared to be outlawed, and any others of like tendencies, even where they have been reconstituted in a different form and under different names. Section 175 (4) provides that persons belonging to the above-mentioned associations shall be liable to imprisonment. With regard to illegal propaganda section 251 (1) specifies propaganda aimed at the violent subversion or the destruction of the political, social, economic or legal structure of the State as illegal propaganda.
4. 253. Often in the past where allegations that trade union leaders or workers have been arrested or detained on account of trade union activities have been met by governments with statements that the arrests or detentions were made for subversive activities, for reasons of international security, or for common law crimes, the Committee has followed the rule that the governments concerned should be requested to submit further information, as precise as possible, concerning the arrests or detentions and the exact reasons therefor. If in certain cases the Committee has concluded that allegations relating to the arrests or detentions of active trade unionists did not call for further examination, this has been after it has received information from the governments showing in a sufficiently clear and detailed way that the arrests or detentions were in no way occasioned by trade union activities but solely by activities outside the trade union sphere which were either prejudicial to public order or of a political nature.
5. 254. The communication of the Government contains no information on what the specific acts have been that have constituted the reason for the sentences passed on the three persons in question apparently in accordance with the sections of the Penal Code referred to. The complainants, for their part, allege that the charge of illegal association refers to the establishment of the Trade Union Alliance and that what the Government calls illegal propaganda has really been the carrying on by the persons concerned of trade union activities.

B. B. The Committee's conclusions

1. 255. In all cases in which a matter has been submitted to a national court the Committee, considering that the judgment pronounced could provide it with elements of information useful in assessing the validity of the allegations that have been made, has decided to postpone examination, in the hope of obtaining the findings. In numerous cases the Committee has asked the governments to forward the text of the judgments and the reasons given.
2. 256. The Spanish Government has repeatedly refused in previous cases to send the texts of the judgments and the reasons given, stating that the acts referred to in the relevant allegations had no connection with trade unionists or trade union activities. The Committee considers that it would be particularly useful to it in the present case to have the texts available, since they would enable it to reach an adequate appreciation of the specific acts that have led to the sentences, bearing in mind especially what has been stated by the complainants in their allegations. The information so far sent by the Government is inadequate and does not provide the elements required by the Committee to enable it to formulate its conclusions.

The Committee's recommendations

1. 257. In these circumstances the Committee recommends the Governing Body to request the Government to be good enough to reconsider the attitude that it has so far adopted in respect of the despatch of the texts of the judgments and the reasons given, and in view of the lack of information on the specific acts leading to the sentences on Mr. Francisco Calle, Mr. Agustin Mariano and Mr. José Cases, and to be good enough to communicate the judgments pronounced against these persons or, at any rate, an account of the acts that led to their trial.