About this project
Show list of needs
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Preparation of the complaint
This amount will be allocated to the payment of legal fees
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€ 2.500 | |
Documentation of the process through a video-documentary and a dossier
During the process we will collect images and statements to produce a final video. They will also be drawn up items that will be collected in a final dossier.
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€ 300 |
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Trips to Strasbourg
Trips ans lodging for the people who will go to Strasboug to present the demand.
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€ 1.500 | |
Total | € 4.000 | € 4.300 |
General information
In 2001, Carles Guillot lost an eye due to the impact of a rubber bullet fired during an eviction in Gracia district, in Barcelona.
Even though the policeman responsible of the shooting was identified, the case has been concluded by the court after the preliminary investigation. After 11 years and 2 months of lawsuits (from the High Court to the Supreme Court and finally to the Constitutional Court), the Spanish justice has refused any sort of compensation for it.
We ask that the practice of ignoring the victims of police violence, granting complete impunity to the security forces, be no longer the norm that prevails in Catalonia and the rest of the Spanish state.
That's why we decided to take the case to the European Court of Human Rights, in order to prevent other similar violations of fundamental rights.
Main features and goals of the crowdfunding campaign
Lawyers Jaume Asens and Anaïs Franquesa will bring the case to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, accusing Spain of violation of article 6.1 (right to a fair trial within a reasonable time) and 3 (prohibition of inhuman or degrading treatment ) of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms.
Why this is important
This project is aimed at all those people aware of human rights and the injustice represented by the lack in application of the fundamental human rights, here and around the world.
It’s also aimed at all the people who believe that in a democratic state there must be no impunity for police.

Goals of the crowdfunding campaign
The main target of this project is to bring the suit to the Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg. Hopefully, succeeding in the case will enable Spanish judges and prosecutors to investigate in depth the charges against the security forces, avoiding in that way other cases of long proceedings as the ones currently involving the victims of police violence.
Additionally, a case of this kind can generate jurisprudence that might be useful for any citizen in the European Union.

Team and experience
The lawyers bringing the lawsuit have an extensive experience in the field.
Specifically, Jaume Asens is a member of the Defence Committee of the College of Lawyers and of the Observatory on Economical, Social and Cultural Rights. At an international level, he took part in international commissions such as the Chiapas one (2000) or in the AED (European Democratic Lawyers) and the Legal Team defending activists’ rights in summits such as Genoa one (2001).
Asens began to work as criminal defence lawyer in 1995. One of his first cases was the CSO Cine Princesa. And since then his work has been focused on the defence of human rights and social movements. Recently he has represented the FAVB (Barcelona Federation of Neighbourhood Associations) in the appeal against civic ordinances or in the mass complaint in cases of corruption such as Millet, Old Town and the Hotel Palau ones.
In tasks of prosecution he has also represented other groups in cases linked to Real Estate Mobbing, Historical Memory and Torture, or other victims of crimes against humanity, before the High Court (e.g. in the cases "Guantanamo" or "Freedom Flotilla").
On the other hand, Anaïs Franquesa, who studied International Human Rights Law and Criminal Law, has been working for the Human Rights Institute of Catalonia and is a member of the legal team of Rereguarda en Moviment – a Solidarity Platform against Repression. They are currently working on suits such as the criminal case against the Italian aviators who bombed Barcelona in 1937, the trial before the High Court on the Rwandan genocide, and several other criminal cases related to the repression of the social movements in Barcelona.
In addition, members of the association Stop Bales de Goma are also working on tasks of spreading information through social networks and of street actions, with media coverage whenever possible.
Social commitment
Shared materials
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Report “Stop Bales de Goma”:
In this annual report we explain what rubber bullets are, what kind of damage they cause, we treport about victims in Catalonia and Spain, as well as what international institutions say about and in which other countries they are used. All this material was collected during 3 years of activity and published under the Creative Commons license so that it can be freely spread around.CC - Attribution - NonCommercial - ShareAlike
Creative Commons License with attribution, that does not allow commercial use, and only allows sharing under identical licensing conditions -
Information about use and abuse of rubber bullets in the European context:
Presenting a complaint, the first one in Europe on this matter, will act as a first step for spreading information about the use of rubber bullets and police violence in general, with the possibility to generate a deep debate on current police models both in Spain and in the rest of Europe. A debate is open and extended to different social actors, which we consider an essential key players in any democratic society in order to report on the problem of actions and practices of police, too often hidden from the darkness of state secrets. -
Documentary and information pack
During the process we will collect images, declarartions and statements to make a final video documentary in order to keep track on what will happen. A series of articles will be written too and finally collected in a single report. This information will be useful for next legal cases that will be presented to the European Court of Human Rights and investigations no human right violations in European countries.CC - Attribution - NonCommercial - NoDerivs
Creative Commons License with attribution, that does not allow commercial use nor derivative works