[GPSCC-chat] CCR Files Complain with U.N. for U.S. Interference in Foreign Courts

[Brian Good]

Complaint is based on memos obtained through wikileaks, and alleges that the 
documents 

"unquestionably demonstrate that senior U.S. officials - including an Ambassador, 
diplomatic staff, and two members of the U.S. Senate - actively and surreptitiously 
met with senior members of the Spanish Government, Administration and 
prosecutorial authorities to express critical views of, and seek information about, 
ongoing criminal investigations and preferred courses of action in relation to those 
investigations, and engage in discussions with Spanish officials in an attempt to 
interfere in the judicial process and thereby prejudice the cases in favor of the 
American defendants."

It alleges that the documents reveal that U.S. "officials both implicitly and explicitly 
acknowledge that their attempts to interfere with criminal proceedings are utterly 
improper."

It alleges that "interventions in Belgium, Germany, and Italy suggest that they are 
demonstrative of a systematic pattern and practice of abuse aimed at protecting 
U.S. interests from adverse judicial findings abroad."

It concludes that "Breaches of judicial independence foster a culture of impunity 
that is incompatible with international and domestic obligations to prosecute 
authors of human rights violations. . . .  [V]arious high-ranking members of the 
U.S. and Spanish Administrations were engaged in inappropriate and unwarranted 
interference with the Spanish judicial process. They have done so with the explicit 
aim of disturbing the integrity of at least three separate ongoing legal proceedings 
before the Spanish courts with a view to shielding potential U.S. defendants 
allegedly responsible for gross human rights violations from criminal liability."





 		 	   		  
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