SPAIN: LEGAL SUIT AGAINST FORMER SECRETARY RUMSFELD

UNCLAS MADRID 000863 SIPDIS SIPDIS SENSITIVE EUR/WE FOR ALLEGRONE, CLEMENTS, AND CERVETTI L/LEI FOR JOHNSON, PROPP, AND KULISH E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV PREL MARR SP SUBJECT: SPAIN: LEGAL SUIT AGAINST FORMER SECRETARY RUMSFELD ¶1. (U) The AFP news wire service reported April 30 that the left-wing Spanish NGO "Seville Social Forum" had filed war crimes charges against former Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld in an Andalusian court for his role in the war in Iraq and for the abuse of detainees at Abu Ghraib prison. The lawyer for the Seville Social Forum said the suit was directed against former SecDef Rumsfeld, but could be extended to other "military or civilian officials in the United States who played a role in the decision to invade Iraq." The Seville Social Forum filed the suit in February at a local court in Seville, but the case was transferred to Spain's National Court, which has jurisdiction in cases of this nature. ¶2. (SBU) Spanish media did not pick up the AFP story, so there was no additional public information regarding this case. The Embassy legal adviser in the Consular Section contacted the National Court prosecutor's office on May 4 to determine the veracity of the AFP report. National Court prosecutor Vicente Mota confirmed that the case was assigned to Central Examining Court Number 6 (the court of Magistrate Juan del Olmo, who investigated the March 11, 2004 Madrid train bombings). On March 28, the National Court prosecutor presented a report to Judge del Olmo requesting that the case be closed due to lack of evidence. Legat followed up on May 7 with Judge del Olmo, who said that he expected to close the case shortly as there was no evidence to substantiate the charges presented by the Seville Social Forum. (NOTE: Legat accompanied Judge del Olmo on a visit to the US the week of May 14-18; the visit will include a meeting with the FBI Director. END NOTE). ¶3. (SBU) The DCM also raised the Seville Social Forum charges against former SecDef Rumsfeld in a conversation with Secretary of State for Justice (Vice Minister level) Julio SIPDIS Perez Hernandez on May 10, noting that this matter had raised concerns in Washington regarding the use of Spanish courts for political purposes by various groups. The DCM said that the USG understood that there was disagreement in Spain and in other EU countries regarding the war in Iraq, just as there was a political debate in the U.S. on the same issues. However, nobody in the U.S. political establishment or public would support war crimes charges against USG officials in connection with the war, and there was concern that this case could cause considerable bilateral friction if it were to progress. Perez Hernandez said that he was completely unaware of the charges against Rumsfeld. He expressed appreciation for the DCM's raising the matter with him and said he would investigate. //COMMENT// ¶4. (SBU) While we expect the Seville Social Forum case to be terminated soon (a similar war crimes charge against former Spanish President Aznar has already been dismissed),the Spanish courts remain easily available to individuals and groups seeking to use legal pretexts for political purposes. The National Court Magistrates in particular seem ready to test the limits of universal jurisdiction, which is especially problematic since these magistrates have broad discretion and little oversight in exercising their judicial duties. This will remain a challenging aspect of our judicial relations with Spain. Aguirre