Public safety law 'goes against the Constitution' and fines are 'excessive', says court governing body
Thursday, February 27, 2014 @ 11:00 AM
INITIAL reports by the court governing body on a new law proposing fines of up to 600,000 euros for public demonstrations without a permit and for photographing police in the course of their duty has slammed the contents and said the text is 'dubious' in terms of whether or not it goes against the Spanish Constitution.
A draft paper – pending input from other speakers of the General Judicial Power Council (GCPJ) – drawn up by pro-progress Victoria Cinto and conservative Wenceslao Olea says the fines stated in the proposed Law of Public Safety are 'disproportionate' to the offences, and that some of these cannot even be considered offences as such.
It contains criteria which is 'excessively wide and fluid' for justifying police involvement in a situation, and both Cinto and Olea believe that the idea of 'mere suspicion' being enough to warrant police pressing charges against a member of the public is 'unacceptable'.
They consider that the regulations relating to police ordering to see people's ID or placing them in custody for 'criminal or civil offences' goes against the Constitution and that no clear definition is given between 'criminal' and 'civil', possibly giving rise to a person being tried twice for the same incident, which goes against standard judicial procedures.
Read more at thinkSPAIN.com