1. Source of the legal provision[1]
Article 510 of the Spanish Criminal [Ley orgánica 10/1995, de 23 de Noviembre, del Código Penal, con modificaciones posteriores].
Available in the original language via: BOE; <https://www.boe.es/biblioteca_juridica/codigos/codigo.php?id=38&modo=2¬a=0>.
2. Legal provision in English
Article 510[2]
(1) A prison sentence of one to four years and a fine of six to twelve months shall be imposed on:
[…]
c. Those who publicly deny, seriously trivialise or extol the crimes of genocide, crimes against humanity or against persons and property protected in the event of armed conflict, or who extol the perpetrators thereof, if committed against a group or part thereof, or against a certain person for belonging to such a group, for reasons of racism, antisemitism, or for other reasons related to ideology, religion or beliefs, family circumstances, the fact that the members belong to an ethnicity, race or nation, national origin, gender, sexual orientation or identity, or due to gender, illness or disability, if such conduct promotes or encourages a climate of violence, hostility, hatred or discrimination against such individuals.
[…]
(3) The penalties outlined in the previous Sections shall be imposed in the upper half if the deeds are committed via social media, via the internet or by using the information technologies in a manner that makes them accessible to a high number of persons.
(4) If, in view of the specific circumstances, the criminal offences are likely to alter the public peace or provoke a serious sense of insecurity or fear among the members of the group, the penalty shall be imposed in its upper half and up to the highest degree.
(5) In all cases, special barring from engaging in a profession or trade in education, in the field of teaching, sports and free time shall be imposed for a period of time greater than the prison sentence duly imposed in the judgement by between three and ten years, proportionally in view of the seriousness of the criminal offence, the number of criminal offences committed and the circumstances of the convict.
(6) The Judge or Court of Law may order the destruction, deletion or deactivation of the books, files, documents, articles and any kind of medium subject to the criminal offence outlined in the preceding Articles or by means whereof it was committed. If the criminal offence is committed through information and communication technologies, removal of the content shall be ordered. In the cases in which, through an Internet access portal or information society service, the content outlined in the preceding Section is distributed exclusively or predominantly, access shall be blocked, and the interruption of such distribution shall be ordered.
3. Legal provision in the original language
Artículo 510[3]
(1) Serán castigados con una pena de prisión de uno a cuatro años y multa de seis a doce meses:
[…]
c. Quienes públicamente nieguen, trivialicen gravemente o enaltezcan los delitos de genocidio, de lesa humanidad o contra las personas y bienes protegidos en caso de conflicto armado, o enaltezcan a sus autores, cuando se hubieran cometido contra un grupo o una parte del mismo, o contra una persona determinada por razón de su pertenencia al mismo, por motivos racistas, antisemitas, antigitanos, u otros referentes a la ideología, religión o creencias, la situación familiar o la pertenencia de sus miembros a una etnia, raza o nación, su origen nacional, su sexo, orientación o identidad sexual, por razones de género, aporofobia, enfermedad o discapacidad, cuando de este modo se promueva o favorezca un clima de violencia, hostilidad, odio o discriminación contra los mismos.
[…]
(3) Las penas previstas en los apartados anteriores se impondrán en su mitad superior cuando los hechos se hubieran llevado a cabo através de un medio de comunicación social, por medio de internet o mediante el uso de tecnologías de la información, de modo que, aquel se hiciera accesible a un elevado número de personas.
(4) Cuando los hechos, a la vista de sus circunstancias, resulten idóneos para alterar la paz pública o crear un grave sentimiento de inseguridad o temor entre los integrantes del grupo, se impondrá la pena en su mitad superior, que podrá elevarse hasta la superior en grado.
(5) En todos los casos, se impondrá además la pena de inhabilitación especial para profesión u oficio educativos, en el ámbito docente, deportivo y de tiempo libre, por un tiempo superior entre tres y diez años al de la duración de la pena de privación de libertad impuesta en su caso en la sentencia, atendiendo proporcionalmente a la gravedad del delito, el número de los cometidos y a las circunstancias que concurran en el delincuente.
(6) El juez o tribunal acordará la destrucción, borrado o inutilización de los libros, archivos, documentos, artículos y cualquier clase de soporte objeto del delito a que se refieren los apartados anteriores o por medio de los cuales se hubiera cometido. Cuando el delito se hubiera cometido a través de tecnologías de la información y la comunicación, se acordará la retirada de los contenidos.
En los casos en los que, a través de un portal de acceso a internet o servicio de la sociedad de la información, se difundan exclusiva o preponderantemente los contenidos a que se refiere el apartado anterior, se ordenará el bloqueo del acceso o la interrupción de la prestación del mismo.
4. Key points
- Spain does not have a specific Holocaust denial ban. Instead, Article 510 (1) (c) of the Criminal Code prohibits the denial of genocides in general, crimes against humanity, or crimes against persons and property protected during armed conflict, regardless of any recognition by a court.
- The provision requires that the relevant conduct promotes or encourages a climate of violence, hostility, hatred or discrimination against individuals based on characteristics as defined in Article 510 (1) (c) of the Criminal Code.
- The possible sanctions may include imprisonment for 1 to 4 years and a fine of 6 to 12 months.
5. Background
The Organic Law 1/2015, of March 30, introduced several changes to the Spanish penal code, including to take into account the Council Framework Decision 2008/913/JHA (hereinafter “EU FD 2008”) of 28 November 2008. According to Section I of the Preamble: “Finally, a large part of the changes made are justified by the need to meet international commitments. Thus, the reform deals with the transposition of EU FD 2008, on combating certain forms and manifestations of racism and xenophobia by means of criminal law. […].”[4] This organic law also took into special account an amendment to article 607 under consideration.[5] These changes to articles 510 and 607, were made also considering the Sentence 235/2007 delivered on 7 November 2007,[6] concerning the Varela Geiss case dating back to 1996.
Highlighting memory issues, Spain also recently enacted the so-called Democratic Memory Law.[7] This law repealed, with effect from 21 October 2022, the so-called Historical Memory Law, “which recognizes and expands rights and establishes measures in favour of those who suffered persecution or violence during the civil war and the dictatorship.”[8]
Although these laws refer directly to Spain’s internal history, namely to the dictatorial period in that country (before the 1978 Constitution), the new Democratic Memory Law begins its articles with an express mention of the Holocaust and the duty to remember: “Since the end of the civil wars and global conflicts that ravaged Europe in the 20th century, and especially since the Holocaust, the promotion of democratic memory policies has become a moral duty that must be strengthened in order to neutralize forgetfulness and prevent the repetition of the most tragic episodes in history. A firm commitment to the pedagogy of “never again” has become a fundamental ethical imperative in democratic societies around the world.”[9]
6. Application
The aforementioned Varela Geiss case directly relates to Article 510 of the Criminal Code. Pedro Varela Geiss, a Spanish neo-nazi and owner of the Europa bookshop in Barcelona, has been repeatedly tried on the basis of these articles. The case dates back to 1996, and Geiss was convicted in 1998, 2008 and 2012. In 2024, he has again been tried for hate crimes and partaking in organised criminal activity.[10] Another case covered by the articles under consideration is the Kalki Bookshop in Barcelona[11] (“Crime of dissemination of ideas or doctrines that deny or justify genocide”).
7. Controversies
In the initial Varela Geiss case, the Spanish Constitutional Court decided that denying the Holocaust was not a crime in Spain at that time, and ordered the local court to reduce his sentence, which prompted the 2015 changes in the law.[12] His continued unrepentant behaviour mentioned above remains a source of major controversies.
Equally interesting is the introduction of changes to citizenship law, in particular with the recognition of Spanish nationality for Sephardic Jews, i.e., those from Sefarad (the territory of Spain and Portugal – the Iberian Peninsula – at the time when all Jews who did not convert to the Christian faith were expelled from these territories by decree in the 15th century). To this end, legislation was enacted that opened up nationality to Sephardic Jews, upon their formal request to the Spanish state and pending fulfilment of certain criteria.[13] This was considered controversial at that time.
8. Further reading
- A. Aragoneses, ‘Legal silences and the memory of Francoism in Spain’, in U. Belavusau, A. Gliszczynska-Grabias (ed.), Law and Memory: Towards Legal Governance of History, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2017, pp. 175-194.
- Dobón, Carmen Alastuey, “Discurso del odio y negacionismo en la reforma del código penal de 2015”. Revista Electrónica de Ciencia Penal y Criminología, RECPC 18-14, 2016. Available here: http://criminet.ugr.es/recpc/18/recpc18-14.pdf
- FRAMIS, Andrea Giménez-Salinas, GOROSTIZA, Jon-Mirena Landa (dirs.), Análisis de casos y sentencias en Materia de racismo, xenofobia, LGTBIfobia, y otras formas de intolerancia 2018-2022, Madrid: Ministerio de Inclusión, Seguridad Social y Migraciones, 2023. Available here: https://www.inclusion.gob.es/oberaxe/ficheros/documentos/Analisis_casos_sentencias_accesibilidad.pdf
- KOPOSOV, Nikolai, “Memory Laws in Western Europe”, Memory Laws, Memory Wars: The Politics of the Past in Europe and Russia, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2017, pp. 60-125.
- RODRÍGUEZ JIMÉNEZ, José L., ‘The Spanish extreme right: from neo-Francoism to xenophobic discourse’, in Andrea Mammone, Emmanuel Godin, Brian Jenkins (ed.), Mapping the Extreme Right in Contemporary Europe: From Local to Transnational, London-New York: Routledge, 2012, pp. 109-123.
[1] The authors of the Compendium would like to thank Pedro Albuquerque (Universidad de Sevilla) for his guidance through Spanish law.
[2] Translation available here: <https://www.mjusticia.gob.es/es/AreaTematica/DocumentacionPublicaciones/Documents/Criminal_Code_2016.pdf>. The present translation (of 2016) corresponds to the consolidated text extracted from the Boletín Oficial del Estado, last updated on 28 April 2015.
[3] Consolidated version available at: <https://www.boe.es/biblioteca_juridica/codigos/codigo.php?id=038_Codigo_Penal_y_legislacion_complementaria&tipo=C&modo=2>.
[4] Available here: <https://www.boe.es/buscar/act.php?id=BOE-A-2015-3439>.
[5] Preamble, XXVI: “El cambio de ubicación del artículo 607 viene justificado por el propio texto de la Decisión Marco y por el hecho de que el Tribunal Constitucional haya impuesto que la negación del genocidio solamente puede ser delictiva como forma de incitación al odio o a la hostilidad. De igual forma, la Decisión Marco impone la tipificación de la negación del genocidio en la medida en que se trate de una forma de incitación al odio contra minorías.” Available here: <https://www.boe.es/buscar/act.php?id=BOE-A-2015-3439>.
[6] Sentencia 235/2007, de 7 de noviembre de 2007. Cuestión de inconstitucionalidad 5152-2000. Planteada por la Sección Tercera de la Audiencia Provincial de Barcelona respecto al artículo 607.2 del Código penal. Vulneración del derecho a la libre expresión: sanción penal de la difusión de ideas o doctrinas que nieguen o justifiquen delitos de genocidio. Nulidad parcial e interpretación de precepto legal. Votos particulares. Reference: BOE-T-2007-21161. Available here: <https://www.boe.es/buscar/doc.php?id=BOE-T-2007-21161>.
[7] Ley 20/2022, de 19 de octobre. Available here: <https://www.boe.es/buscar/act.php?id=BOE-A-2022-17099>.
[8] Ley 52/2007, de 26 de diciembre. Avaliable here: <https://www.boe.es/buscar/act.php?id=BOE-A-2007-22296>.
[9] Ley 20/2022, de 19 de octobre. Available here: <https://www.boe.es/buscar/act.php?id=BOE-A-2022-17099>.
[10] ‘El librero Pedro Varela volverá a ser juzgado a partir de este martes por delitos de odio y organización criminal’, 20 Minutos, 13 may 2024: <https://www.20minutos.es/noticia/5244832/0/librero-neonazi-pedro-varela-vuelve-ser-juzgado-desde-martes-por-delitos-odio-organizacion-criminal/>.
[11] STS 259/2011, 12 april 2011. Available at V-Lex: <https://vlex.es/vid/284165199>.
[12] Available here: <https://english.elpais.com/elpais/2012/01/20/inenglish/1327040445_850210.html>.
[13] Ley 12/2015, de 24 de junio: <https://www.boe.es/buscar/pdf/2015/BOE-A-2015-7045-consolidado.pdf>.