Interim Report - Report No 139, 1974

1. 375. This case was examined by the Committee at its session in May 1973, when it submitted an interim report that appears in paragraphs 117-120 and 121(5) of its 137th Report (approved by the Governing Body at its 190th Session in June 1973).
2. 376. Spain has ratified neither the Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87), nor the Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining Convention, 1949 (No. 98).

A. A. The complainants' allegations

1. 377. On 27 June 1972 the World Federation of Trade Unions presented a complaint alleging that trade union militants Marcelino Camacho, Nicolás Sartorio and Eduardo Saborido and the worker priest Francisco Garcia, had been arrested. The Trade Unions International of Workers in the Metal Industry also referred, in a communication dated 19 January 1973, to the arrest of Marcelino Camacho together with nine of his companions, alleging that the charges brought against these persons were characteristic of the way in which trade union rights are being infringed in Spain. The World Federation of Trade Unions, to which the above-mentioned organisation is affiliated, sent a letter dated 25 January 1973 in support of this complaint.
2. 378. In a communication dated 6 February 1973, the Government stated that the persons referred to in the original complaint had been arrested on account of their repeated subversive activities and had been placed at the disposal of the competent judicial authority. According to the Government, one of the accused was further charged with the offence of forging an official document, having been found in possession of a counterfeit national identity document bearing his photograph. The relevant judicial proceedings were still pending in the courts. The Government concluded by stating that any interference in the matter on the part of the Spanish Government authorities would be contrary to the principles of the independence of the courts of justice. By a further communication, dated 8 May 1973, the Government stated that the judicial proceedings had been delayed because some of the defence lawyers had given up their defence and the accused had to instruct new lawyers.
3. 379. The Committee recommended the Governing Body to request the Government to supply information as to the exact grounds for the arrest of the persons referred to in the complaint, and, in particular, as to the acts which were deemed to have justified the taking of such action, as well as the text of the judgement in the case, as soon as it was pronounced, together with the grounds adduced therefor.
4. 380. The Government furnished information on this issue in a communication dated 29 September 1973. In this letter it states that the precise reason for the arrest was that the police had knowledge of the holding of a secret meeting by a group calling itself the "National Co-ordinating Committee", whose aims were to subvert the State in accordance with communist ideology (as repeatedly and publicly stated abroad by the leaders of one of the factions of the so-called "Spanish Communist Party" in exile) and which claimed to be the head of a subversive organisation that had been declared illegal by the Supreme Court. Knowing the purpose of the meeting, the police requested and obtained the necessary writ to enter the premises in which the meeting was being held, in which they found ten persons, some trying to escape and others trying to hide in various parts of the building. All were immediately handed over to the judicial authorities, as was the material evidence found during the search and the dossier on the case, from which it transpired that they all had police records, that some had prior convictions, that one had false papers and, altogether, that they were the leaders of a clandestine organisation of a subversive character.
5. 381. The Government states that these acts - with the exception of what is contained in the record of the preliminary investigation (which is secret) - constituted the grounds for the trial and for the committal to custody ordered by the judge. The consequences of these acts could not be stated until decided by the competent court.
6. 382. The Government supplies the further information that on 4 September the lawyers of one of the accused submitted to the judicial authority a request to restore the position to what it was at the time of the request for authorisation to proceed against him, on the grounds of the special circumstances of the accused pleaded by his lawyers basing themselves on the guarantees established by law. This implies a further delay in the proceedings, which, together with that mentioned in the communication of 8 May 1973, defers the time at which the court will pass judgement.

B. B. The Committee's conclusions

1. 383. The Committee notes the fresh information furnished by the Government and wishes to recall the importance it has always attached to the principle of prompt and fair trial by an independent and impartial judiciary in all cases, including cases in which trade unionists are charged with political or criminal offences. In order to be able to examine the allegations in full knowledge of the facts, the Committee has also made it a rule to request the governments concerned to supply information concerning the judicial proceedings instituted and the result thereof.