The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has condemned the Spanish State for a violation of the right to respect for private and family life of the European Convention on Human Rights, for the preparation by the Spanish Police of files of 33 judges who signed a manifesto in favor of the right to decide of the Catalans. These were published in March 2014 in the newspaper La Razón in an article entitled "The conspiracy of the 33 sovereignist judges" including the photos and the IDs of the judges.
The Court made up of six judges held unanimously that Spain should pay the plaintiffs (20 of the affected judges) 4,200 euros in non-pecuniary damages, damages and 3,993 euros in costs and expenses.
The Court finds that the mere existence of the police reports, which had not been compiled in accordance with any law, contravened the Convention. Regarding the investigation of the leak, the Court considers that it had been inadequate due to the fact that a person crucial to the investigation, the Superior Chief of Police of Barcelona, to whom the reports had been addressed and who had been responsible, had not been interviewed. of the databases.
The 20 plaintiffs, in February 2014, along with 13 other judges, drafted a manifesto stating their opinion that the Catalan people should have the "right to decide" on the independence of Catalonia under the Constitution and international law a few months before of the first consultation that was carried out in Catalonia in this sense on November 9 of that year.
In March of that year, the newspaper La Razón published an article about his manifesto entitled "The conspiracy of the thirty-three separatist judges." The article included personal data and photographs -taken from the police database- of the applicants.
As a result of a complaint by the applicants, criminal proceedings were initiated, but this was dismissed by an investigating judge in Madrid who held that although “... the facts investigated constitute a crime, ... there are no sufficient reasons to attribute them to a person in particular. ”. The same judge dismissed an appeal and the Provincial Court of Madrid did the same in April 2016.
In 2014, the plaintiffs also reported the article to the Data Protection Agency, pointing to the Ministry of the Interior and La Razón. It did not prosper, but on appeal the National High Court ordered that a full investigation be carried out, which apparently is still pending resolution.
Also in 2014, the Clean Hands union of civil servants unsuccessfully filed a complaint and subsequent appeal against the magistrates who had signed the manifesto before the General Council of the Judiciary.
Relying on articles 8 (right to respect for private and family life), 10 (freedom of expression) and 61 (right to a fair trial), the applicants complained to the ECHR that the police had compiled a file on them without justification, using police photos, which were later leaked to the press; of disciplinary action against them for having expressed their views; and that the investigation of his complaints had been inadequate. The lawsuit was filed with the European Court of Human Rights on April 26, 2017.
On the other hand, the Court sees "manifestly unfounded" the complaint for violation of freedom of expression (article 10) after filing the case against the judges without any sanction having been imposed and considered that it was not necessary to examine the complaints in under article 61.
According to the newspaper El País published in May, the then National Police Commissioner José Manuel Villarejo dealt with this case with the former Deputy Director of the Spanish Police, Eugenio Pino, and the Information Commissioner in Catalonia, Pedro Esteban. In a recorded conversation they admitted that the images came from the Police and that they were working to eliminate any evidence of this investigation.
