In July it will be two years since the Mozal Law comes into force. However, the Department of the Interior of Navarre did not provide data on the use of the law until May of this year. The Eleak Free movement has received the LIGHT.

According to these data, the Moza Law has been applied in Navarre 3,052 times between July 1, 2015 and December 2016. These are fines of the Navarre Provincial and Local Police, so to have a complete picture of Navarre, it would be necessary to add the sanctions imposed by the Spanish Police and the Civil Guard – data that have not yet been made public by the Spanish Government.

The largest group of fines corresponds to article 36.16. It punishes the trafficking and consumption of illegal drugs, such as carrying marijuana or hachis for personal use.

Because they directly affect civil and political rights, the Navarrese police have also taken advantage of three highly criticized articles. 130 fines have been imposed under Article 36.06, which punishes “non-compliance with police orders”. For addressing the security forces with “disrespect”, 105 sanctions have been imposed. And there have been 54 convictions for “obstruction of the public sphere” – such as a meeting in a plaza.

The black hole

There is a large unclarified gap between the data provided: No data or reasons have been provided in relation to the 323 fines. Eleak-Libre has denounced that the failure to report such a large amount of fines, this apparent lack of transparency, does not help to avoid distrust of the work of public officials paid with money from the perspective of respect for civil and political rights.

Every week, 33 fines have been imposed by police officers attached to public institutions in Navarre.

Majority of the political and social representatives of Navarre against

On April 11, 2016, the Parliament of Navarre rejected the Gag Law and its misuse. Future Yes, EH Bil, Left, We Can and the PSN voted in favour, the UPN abstained and the only vote against was the representative of the PP. Regarding the fine against LARA, when we participated in the Parliament of Navarre, the majority of the political forces also clearly expressed their opposition to the use of the Gag Law.

11,000 fines in the Southern Basque Country

If the Basque Autonomous Police and Municipal Police are added to the data of Navarre, the number of fines imposed by the Autonomous Police and Municipal Police of the Southern Basque Country is as follows: 11.139. The 2017 data has not been reported by both governments. In any case, exposing the majority of citizens, political representatives and popular movements against the Mozal Law has not been enough to change the attitude of the police subordinates to the autonomous governments.

The Elcea-Libre movement protocol

The Eleak-Libre movement for civil and political rights has prepared a protocol to deal with cases of application of the Mozal law. If the fines go through the path of disobedience – the non-payment of the fine and the public denunciation – the Eleak-Libre movement will offer them support, protection and legal advice. To this end, the lawyers of each of the countries that collaborate with the movement will be available and the following e-mail has been launched to contact the convicts: mozalikez@riseup.net

A database of cases of violations of civil and political rights is also being developed with lawyers. They shall include the nature of the fines, the types of penalties, the sentences and the arguments and legal explanations used by the police in order to exercise control over the fines and improve the lawsuit against the law.