The former Constitutional magistrate defended as chief prosecutor of the Supreme Court the application of the Law of Parties against formations such as ANV, PCTV or Sortu
“Euskal Herria Bildu constitutes a democratic political formation, and, therefore, the possibility of requesting the procedure of declaration of illegality should be rejected”. This sentence is included in the report by which the Supreme Court Prosecutor’s Office flatly rejects the possibility of applying the Law of Parties to Bildu in the face of a possible illegalization, a text that is signed by the chief prosecutor of the Technical Secretariat, Ana Isabel García León, but also by the highest representative of the Public Ministry in the field of contentious-administrative matters, Antonio Narvaezuntil last December a magistrate of the Constitutional Court.
Narváez is a true authority to talk about this matter since 2007, when he was promoted to prosecutor of the Litigation Chamber as attorney general of the State Cándido Conde-Pumpido and almost until his entry into the guarantee body in 2014.
In this position he was in charge of promote the application of the Political Parties Law in the successive processes of illegalization of heir formations of Batasuna, outlawed four years earlier, following in the footsteps already undertaken by the Public Ministry regarding groups such as Herritarren Zarrenda, and Auzkera Guztiak. As head of the department of the Public Prosecutor’s Office competent in this matter, during this stage he challenged the candidacies and electoral groups in order to prevent the registration of political parties in the elections to the Basque Parliament, the Congress of Deputies and the European Parliament.
In 2023, twelve years after the dissolution of the band, the scenario is very different. So much so that the same prosecutor assures in his report that it is with “this perspective” that they have to assess all the circumstances. From the point of view of the Prosecutor’s Office, the attempt to include former ETA members with blood crimes behind them on the electoral lists does not constitute ‘per se’ a cause of illegalization.
Paradoxically, the name of Narváez has come to light in the press in recent weeks as a member of the conservative Association of Prosecutors who led the singing voice during the meeting attended by the leader of the PP Alberto Núñez Feijóo and in which he was criticized as “bad practices of sanchismo” the latest decisions of the Government of Pedro Sánchez.
In May 2007, Narváez began his position as Chief Prosecutor for Supreme Court Litigation, challenging three different attempts by Batasuna’s heirs to gain access to the institutions. With that it was possible to prevent the constitution of Abertzale Sozialisten Batasuna (ASB)as well as the annulment of 123 candidacies of a former party, Basque Nationalist Action (ANV), that the Supreme Court considered contaminated.
Arguments to outlaw
In January 2008, Narváez himself presented the demand for the illegalization of the party before the Special Chamber of the Supreme Court competent for it, the one called article 61 (of the Organic Law of the Judiciary) with a brief in which he argued as causes of illegalization the “regular collaboration with an organization that systematically supports terrorism”, in reference to Batasuna, and that of “minimize” terrorist actions and not condemn them. That same year, the demand for the illegalization of another attempt by Batasuna -with ETA operative- to reach the institutions, the Communist Party of the Basque Lands (EHAK-PCTV).
In this second case, the lawsuit signed by Narváez also opted for the article 9 of the Party Law to present the request for banning, alleging as the main cause the “habitual collaboration with an organization that systematically supports terrorism”. He also alluded to Payment of the salaries of up to 49 people linked to Batasunaincluding prominent members of the National Table. Both ANV and PCTV were outlawed.
Narváez’s action continued in 2009, stopping the candidacies proclaimed for the autonomous elections of the Basque Country held that year from the groups of voters D3M and Askatasuna, a party already registered since 1998. In the European elections held in June of that same year, the Abertzale left tried a new formula, that of the Iniciativa Internacionalista coalition of parties. The demands filed by Narváez were successful before the Supreme Court, but the Constitutional Court upheld the amparo appeal and these candidates were able to stand in the elections
Sortu’s “habit” does not make the monk
In March 2011, and after the hearings held in the Supreme Court, the demands of prosecutor Narváez were also successful and the Chamber of 61 agreed to declare the constitution of the Sortu political party inadmissible because it was a continuity or succession of the political party declared illegal and dissolved Batasuna, thus preventing registration in the Registry of political parties.
In his plea, the prosecutor defended that this formation was committing “a true fraud of the law and an abuse of rights” by “apparently comply” with the canon of legality but not “materially accept” their approaches. “The habit does not make the monk”, highlighted then the main tax representative in matters of application of the Party Law.
That same year, two months later, the Supreme Court annulled 254 candidacies of a new coalition of parties called Bildu, but what happened a few years before was repeated and the Constitutional Court allowed them to present themselves, achieving a representation of 1,138 councilors, according to data provided to this newspaper by the victims’ associations. In the general elections of that same year, the coalition formula was repeated with Amaiur, which was no longer challenged.