3 ms·

I would expect EU free-speech laws to supersede such laws in Spain. Can these two appeal their case to the EU courts?

• enriquto 6y ago
  The "EU laws" have no teeth and are only effective when EU states want to act against each other. When they concern internal affairs of a single state they are in practice meaningless. For instance, Spain is routinely condemned by the European Court of Human Rights (last time, this very week!) because it consistently fails to investigate allegations of torture by basque prisoners. The Spanish state doesn't even bat an eye about that, and the judge who has been in charge of blocking most torture investigations is currently the Spanish minister of justice! There's also an elected EU member of parliament that is currently in a Spanish prison on bogus charges, and he could not join his seat even when the EU law gave him parliamentary immunity. Likewise, three more Catalan MEPs are living in Belgium because they would be jailed (and probably tortured) if they returned to Spain.