European Court Says Spain Violated Rights of Jehovah's Witness in Authorizing Blood Transfusion

In Case of Pindo Mulla v. Spain, (ECHR, Sept. 17, 2024), the European Court of Human Rights held that Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights was violated by Spanish courts when they authorized a blood transfusion for a critically ill woman who, because of her beliefs as a Jehovah's Witness, had refused all blood transfusions. The court said in part:

181.  The Court fully appreciates that the actions taken in relation to the applicant on the day in question by the staff of both hospitals were motivated by the overriding concern to ensure the effective treatment of a patient who was under their care, in keeping with the most fundamental norm of the medical profession. It does not question their assessments regarding the severity of the applicant’s condition at the time, the urgency of the need to treat her, the medical options available in the circumstances, or that the applicant’s life was saved that day.

182.  However, the authorisation by the duty judge to proceed with whatever treatment was considered necessary resulted from a decision-making process that was affected by the omission of essential information about the documenting of the applicant’s wishes, which had been recorded in various forms and at various times in writing. Since neither the applicant nor anyone connected with her was aware of the decision taken by the duty judge, it was not possible, even in theory, to make good that omission. Neither this issue, nor the issue of her capacity to take a decision, were addressed in an adequate manner in the subsequent proceedings. In light of this, it cannot be said that the domestic system adequately responded to the applicant’s complaint that her wishes had been wrongly overruled....

183.  In the Court’s view, the shortcomings identified above ... indicate that the interference complained of was the result of a decision-making process which, as it operated in this case, did not afford sufficient respect for the applicant’s autonomy as protected by Article 8, which autonomy she wished to exercise in order to observe an important teaching of her religion.

Eight of the 17 judges dissented as to the damages awarded by the majority. Courthouse News Service reports on the decision.

Spanish Case Charges Actor's Facebook Post Violated Blasphemy Law

El Pais yesterday reported on a high profile battle in Spain over a prosecution under the country's blasphemy law:

A Madrid court has issued an arrest warrant for Spanish actor and activist Willy Toledo after he twice failed to show up in court, where he had been summonsed after a lawyers’ association accused him of offending religious sentiments.

The Spanish Association of Christian Lawyers filed a complaint with the public prosecutor after Toledo published a post on Facebook in 2017, in which he expressed his indignation over a court probe into three women in Seville who, in 2014, paraded a large model of a vagina through the city streets, in an imitation of a religious procession, dubbing it the “coño insumiso,” or “Insubordinate pussy.”

Fight Over Religious Artifacts Becomes Part of the Catalonian Independence Battle

An unanticipated development flowing from Spain's takeover of the Catalonian government is Spain's move to retrieve 44 religious artifacts housed in Catalonia’s Museum of Lleida. The Spanish government claims that nuns of a convent in Sijena illegally sold the rare artifacts to the Museum after the order moved to Barcelona. The Telegraph yesterday reported:

In 2015, after years of contradictory rulings and appeals, an Aragonese court found that the sales were illicit, and ordered the treasures returned. But Catalonia refused to comply, lodging an appeal which has yet to be ruled upon.

When that Catalan government was removed in November under Article 155 - which imposed direct rule in response to the illegal independence referendum - the Aragonese judge saw his chance, demanding that the return be approved by Spain's culture ministry.

The minister, Íñigo Méndez de Vigo, defended the sign-off, insisting it was not "adding to the fire" to comply with a court order.

It is expected that Spanish police will try to retrieve the artifacts today.

EU Ban On State Economic Subsidies Invalidates Some Applications of Tax Exemption Treaty with Vatican

Article 107(1) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union prohibits EU states from granting aid that "distorts or threatens to distort competition [between Member States] by favouring certain undertakings or the production of certain goods..."  In Congregación de Escuelas Pías Provincia Betania v. Ayuntamiento de Getafe, (CJEU, June 27, 2017), the Court of Justice of the European Union held that this provision may invalidate some applications of a treaty between Spain and the Vatican exempting from taxes the property in Spain of Catholic dioceses, parishes and religious orders.  At issue is a municipal tax that would apply to the renovation and extension of a building at a school operated by a Catholic order. According to the Court, the ban on favoring certain "undertakings" applies only to "economic activity."  To the extent that the building is used for educational activities subsidized by the Spanish government, the religious order is not engaged "economic activity" and the EU Treaty does not bar a tax exemption.  However

it would seem ... the Congregación’s educational activities that are not financed by the Spanish State, corresponding to early-years teaching, extracurricular activities and post-compulsory education, meet all the criteria ... of the present judgment for classification as ‘economic activities’....

Law & Religion UK has more on the decision.

In Spain, 3 Women Face Trial On Charge of Insulting Religious Sentiments of Catholics

The Telegraph reports that in Spain, three women will be tried on charges of  insulting the religious sentiments of Catholics.  The charges grow out of the women's participation in a May Day parade in 2014 in which they carried a giant plastic vagina through the streets of Seville on a platform imitating the way in which women carry the image of the Virgin Mary in Good Friday parades.  Allegedly they also mocked Catholic prayers. The three women, part of a group calling itself "Sisterhood of the Blessed Rebellious Vagina to the Exploitation of Precariousness," were protesting discrimination against women in the workplace. An appeals court last week rejected the women's free speech defenses. While the women face the potential of fines and an 18 month prison sentence, any prison time is likely to be suspended.

Spain's Catholic Lawyers Sue Over Art Exhibit

In Spain, the Spanish Association of Christian Lawyers has filed a lawsuit seeking to close down a controversial art exhibit which opened in Pamplona City Hall last Friday  According to yesterday's The Local, the display-- a retrospective of the works of controversial 27-year old Spanish artist Abel Azcona-- includes a work titled "Amen" which consists of 242 holy wafers spelling out "paedophilia".  Azcona's critics claim that he stole the hosts used in the display by pretending to take Holy Communion, but then pocketing the wafers.  The lawsuit alleges that Azcona committed the crimes of desecration and crimes against religious sentiment under Spain’s Penal Code. On Tuesday evening the communion wafers disappeared as critics staged a protest, and city hall says that part of the display will not be replaced.

Spain's Parliament Passes Law Allowing Non-Resident Sephardic Jews To Apply For Citizenship

The Wall Street Journal  and AP report that Spain's legislature yesterday gave final approval to a bill that will allow Sephardic Jews-- descendants of those expelled in 1492-- to apply for Spanish citizenship without requiring they live in Spain or give up their current citizenship elsewhere.  This follows a similar step by Portugal earlier this year.  Under Spain's new law, applicants will be required to show basic Spanish language ability, pass the same test on current events and Spanish culture as other citizenship applicants, and prove a current link to Spain such as donating to a Spanish charity or owning Spanish property. Sephardic Jews will have a 3-year window beginning in October to apply for a Spanish passport.  This will give them the right to live and work anywhere in the 28-nation European Union.  While the bill was debated in Parliament, two small leftist parties offered an amendment that would have extended it to Moriscos-- descendants of the Muslim Moors who were forced to convert to Christianity in 1502 under threat of exile or death and who were then expelled from Spain in 1609. (Background.) That amendment was defeated. [Thanks to Tom Rutledge for the lead.]

Pending Lawsuit In Spain Challenges Award of State Medals To Icons

The Wall Street Journal reported yesterday on a lawsuit filed in Spain earlier this year challenging the odd practice of awarding state medals to Roman Catholic icons.  The suit was triggered by the latest example-- the presentation of Spain’s Gold Medal of Police Merit last April to a statue named Virgin del Amor (Our Most Holy Mary of Love) located in a church in the city of Malaga. The state award is supposed to go to a member of the police force who suffered injury or death in the line of duty. In announcing the award last February, the Interior Ministry praised the icon "for sharing police values such as dedication, caring, solidarity and sacrifice." The lawsuit, filed in Spain's National Court, was brought by Jorge García González, head of the Movement Towards a Secular State. Officials say such awards merely recognize long-standing ties between Catholic lay communities and the police. An April article in The Guardian has additional background.