MADRID (Sputnik) — All the opposition parties in the Spanish Parliament lodged a joint appeal on Tuesday with the Constitutional Court against revisable indefinite imprisonment, which is due to come into force on Wednesday.
Earlier, the Spanish government announced 15 amendments into country’s Penal Code to come into force on July 1. One of the amendments is revisable indefinite imprisonment, which will be imposed only in exceptional cases such as terrorism, anti-government crimes or serial killing.
"This new penal code [should] never be applied in our country and, as [Prime Minister, leader of Spain’s ruling Peoples Party] Rajoy leaves, the new majority will abolish it," Secretary General of the Socialist Parliamentary Group Miguel Angel Heredia said during the debate.
Indefinite imprisonment is a sentence with no definite period of time set during sentencing, and its length is based on the inmate's conduct.
Currently, Spain practices neither indefinite nor life imprisonment, and the maximum length of sentence stands at 40 years.
According to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), indefinite detention is incompatible with Article 9 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, as during peacetime, the period of incarceration should be determined to the extent strictly required by the exigencies of the situation.
