Antich case reaches court
Barcelona city council brings charges against the judge who issued Puig Antich’s death warrant in 1974.
There is no time-limit for prosecuting crimes against humanity. That is why Barcelona city council has brought charges against the military judge who in January 1974 issued the sentence condemning the young anarchist Salvador Puig Antich to death. The indictment is directed against the lawyer Carlos Rey, who, at the end of the 70s, held the position of captain of the Spanish army and served as a military judge. When he left the military, Rey devoted himself to the world of criminal law, he practiced in Barcelona and worked well-known cases, including defending Alicia Sánchez Camacho, a one-time president of the PP in Catalonia,
The indictment is based on the abundant evidence pointing to irregularities in the judicial process against Puig Antich and to coordination between police and army to punish this Iberian Liberation Movement (MIL) activist.
In this regard, the case brought against Rey states that “the trial was a simple formality to make the death sentence seem legal” and that it was already decided on before the court martial took place.
This strategy left the defendant no opportunity to defend himself and systematically violated his rights: and Rey’s participation in drafting and signing the ruling was decisive.
Among other things, Rey is said to have been covering for the police who “adapted the facts to present them as a terrorism crime.”
The legal argument supporting the charges is based on the fact that the crimes Rey is being accused of were recognized by International Law at the time.