It is very likely that every detainee who has spent time in solitary confinement will end up demanding the application of the Atristain doctrine from the Strasbourg court. Driss Oukabir did it this Monday, judged in relation to the Barcelona and Cambrils attacks and sentenced to 46 years in prison for belonging to a terrorist organization, possession of explosives, havoc and injuries.
Oukabir’s lawyer, Luis Álvarez, has submitted a brief to the National High Court requesting the acquittal of his client, considering that the application of the doctrine on the conditions of solitary confinement means that the essential evidence against him must be considered null.
“The incommunicado regime, to which Driss Oukabir was subjected, also deprived, like Atristain, of the total services for his legal assistance -preparing, organizing and discussing his defense- that Europe demands to be made available to him,” the letter states. , which asks to declare the nullity of all actions subsequent to incommunicado detention, which would lead to his acquittal and release.
The request is addressed to the Appeals Chamber of the National High Court, which is reviewing the sentence imposed on Oukabir and two others convicted in the same trial. The defense wants this new argument to be incorporated into the appeal that was filed. What this Chamber resolves may be appealed to the Supreme Court.
The Atristain doctrine has caused, for the time being, the release of Xabier Atristain himself, to whom the European Court of Human Rights agreed, while waiting for the Supreme Court to resolve the review appeal against his sentence to 17 years in prison. The National High Court has also applied the doctrine in two other acquittal sentences, referring to the ETA members Gorka Palacios and Juan Carlos Iglesias Chouzas, Gaddafi.
The doctrine does not annul everything derived from a statement by a detainee held incommunicado, but rather questions the cases in which this measure has not been sufficiently motivated and that deficit has not been subsequently repaired. This means that its application is not automatic to all cases, but must be examined one by one.
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