Herri Batasuna and Batasuna v. Spain, Nos. 25803/04, 25817/04, ECtHR (Fifth Section), 30 June 2009

Dissolution of Basque separatist political parties. Link between political parties, or other associations, and terrorist organizations.

Art. 11 ECHR

1. The dissolution of a political party or another form of association is justified when it has links with a terrorist organization.

2. A political party whose leaders incite to violence or put forward a policy which fails to respect democracy or which is aimed at the destruction of democracy and the flouting of the rights and freedoms recognised in a democracy cannot lay claim to the Convention’s protection against penalties imposed on those grounds.

(In the present case, the Supreme Court of Spain ordered the ban of a radical Basque party on the ground that it had pursued a strategy of ‘tactical separation’ by supporting terrorism and that there were significant similarities between such party and the terrorist organization ETA).

According to the ECtHR, the dissolution of the applicant political parties can be deemed to be “necessary in a democratic society”, notably in the interest of public safety, for the prevention of disorder and the protection of the rights and freedoms of others, within the meaning of Article 11 of the Convention.