Manos Limpias
Manos Limpias (English: Clean Hands) is a far-right[1][2][3][4] trade union registered in Spain. The group was founded in Madrid in 1995 by Spanish lawyer Miguel Bernard Remón (see also Miguel Bernad Remón), a notable figure within the Spanish extreme right [5] who entered politics as a Blas Piñar protege during his tenure as the Fuerza Nueva and National Front party secretary.
It was allegedly founded as an organization representing employees of the Spanish public services and is best known for its role in the indictment of a judge who investigated the crimes against humanity committed by the Franco regime (arguably its cause célèbre) and the persecution of alleged gay overtones in a children's TV show.[6]
The union has no institutional representation as of 2009. The group takes their name from the Mani Pulite judiciary movement in Italy instigated by Antonio Di Pietro. At present, the union states that it has over 6,000 members, who financially contribute an annual fee of 60 euros. Miguel Bernad is the only one who is publicly known.
Manos Limpias is a "far-right group," according to the New York Times.[7]
Social and political objectives
Manos Limpias' self-proclaimed goal is to defend the Constitutional Rule of law against corruption and separatist nationalism. Manos Limpias declares itself independent from any party, and claims to have no ideological affiliation;[8] however the vast majority of the lawsuits brought by them to court were consistently against the socialist left or against the nationalist right in Catalonia and Basque Country, with some exceptions of cases against the centre-right Partido Popular. The group has often been described by the media as a far-right [1][2][9][10] civil servants' organisation due to their choice of court actions and Mr. Bernad's past membership of the far right party Fuerza Nueva during the early eighties.
Legal actions
Manos Limpias has achieved some legal successes such as the conviction on contempt of court charges of the president of the Basque parliament, Juan Maria Atutxa, for disobeying the Supreme Court's requirement to disband Sozialista Abertzaleak the political wing of ETA.
Manos Limpias achieved some controversial notoriety in the international press after filing a lawsuit against the Spanish investigating judge Baltasar Garzón with respect of his 2008 investigation of war crimes committed during the Spanish Civil War. The investigation was stopped because it was deemed to contravene the 1977 amnesty law and break the principle of 'irretroactivity' of law.[11] The Spanish Civil War took place before 1940, whereas the concept of crimes against humanity was not implemented in International Law until 1945. However, an element of retroactivity was provided for at the time in that perpetrators of war crimes committed in the period 1939-1945 have been brought to justice, for example at the Nuremberg Trials.
Manos Limpias sought to prosecute Garzón for undertaking his investigation, and accused Garzón of breaking the 1977 amnesty law, exceeding his competences as an investigating judge of the Audiencia Nacional and deliberately acting in an unjust and unfair manner (as in 1998 Garzón dismissed a similar indictment against communist politician Santiago Carrillo, accused of crimes against humanity during the Spanish Civil War, based on the principle of irretroactivity). In May 2009 the Supreme Court accepted Manos Limpias' lawsuit against Garzón for prevarication: his "blatant, deliberate, conscious and arrogant role" in "trespassing against the dead". In 2010 Garzón was suspended as a judge pending trial. On 27 February 2012 the Spanish Supreme Court found Garzón innocent on these charges. It is worth noting that the United Nations has requested that Spain repeal the 1977 law.[12]
In February 2012, Garzón was convicted and disqualified for 11 years on a completely different charge to the above; this decision is under appeal.
In an interview with the Spanish Catholic radio Station COPE at the time of the indictment, Miguel Bernad claimed that, by admitting the latest action against Garzón, the Supreme Court had given a boost to its mission of battling against the current "deterioration in the rule of law". There had been some twenty previous attempts from Manos Limpias to incriminate Garzón, for various alleged offences including negligence or delay in the seizure of taverns used by ETA militants, for contributing to the leading left-wing national newspaper El País, for contributing to an interview with former parliamentary president Felipe González, for participating in a rally against the war in Iraq and for leaking the medical report of Augusto Pinochet. Other Manos Limpias complaints include promotion of gay marriage in a popular TV puppet show.[6]
References
- 1 2
- 1 2 Manos limpias, a far-right labor union led by a Blas Piñar admirer. Article in RTVE, 27 May 2009.
- ↑ "Truth on Trial in Spain". The New York Times. 2012-02-04.
- ↑ "Charismatic judge who pursued Spain's fascist assassins finds himself on trial". The Guardian. 25 April 2010.
- ↑ El franquismo agradece a Manos Limpias sus servicios
- 1 2
- ↑ Truth on Trial in Spain | url=http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/05/opinion/sunday/truth-on-trial-in-spain.html?_r=1&ref=baltasargarzon
- ↑ The far-right as an excuse .Article published by Manos Limpias retrieved 14 February 2012.
- ↑ Manos limpias, a 'union' to settle the score .Article published by El País on 31 May 2009.
- ↑ 20 year disqualification sought over Garzon's Franco investigations .Article published by ABC on 13 February 2012.
- ↑ The principle endorsed by the Spanish judiciary is that an offender cannot be charged with a crime which was not proscribed or was permitted by law at the time it was committed.
- ↑ 2008: UN Human Rights Committee calls on Spain to repeal the 1977 amnesty law and to ensure that domestic courts do not apply limitation periods to crimes against humanity: .