After several complaints and appeals to the National Court that have been rejected, Greenpeace has filed an appeal for protection with the Constitutional Court (TC) for the "aggression against activists of the organization, when a Navy vessel violently rammed the Greenpeace zodiac in a peaceful demonstration in Canary waters."
The events date back to November 2014, during a protest against the oil explorations that Repsol was going to undertake in the Canary Islands archipelago. In the incident, three people were injured, one of them seriously who, according to the NGO, "is still recovering today." Greenpeace filed a complaint on April 21, 2015 with the Courts of the National Court, which declared the dismissal of the proceedings on February 26, 2016. An appeal was then filed against the evidence that Greenpeace had requested and that was not admitted, which was dismissed on May 3, 2016 by the National Court. The appeal that Greenpeace had filed against the dismissal and filing of the proceedings was also dismissed (on September 22, 2016).
Last November, after submitting a new writing of exceptional incident of nullity of proceedings "for violation of fundamental rights", an order was issued by which the incident of nullity was not admitted, thus closing the criminal route.
"We cannot accept under any circumstances the violation of the right to freedom of expression and peaceful demonstration, when expressly and at all times it had been pointed out by us and it was proven what our intentions were," said José Manuel Marraco, lawyer of Greenpeace.
Finally, Greenpeace points out that "the incomprehensible violence of the attack was reflected in some shocking video images, which demonstrate the disproportion of the Navy's action." Now, it trusts that the TC "protects the right to peaceful demonstration and freedom of expression, absolutely necessary in a democratic society."
