criminal law: the positive general prevention (to impose respect of the legal code), the general prevention of intimidation (to prevent the violation of a particular rule), and the special prevention of rehabilitation (to promote the social reintegration). 385 Instead of the purposes of prevention, the aggravation of the sentences envisaged by the antiterrorist law of 9/1984 seemed rather to satisfy a symbolic purpose, in order to calm the public opinion which would feel terrified by the political crime. 386 In addition, in 1987 the policy of dispersion of ETA convicts in prisons far from Basque country was put into practice, in order to break the discipline and control that the organization could hold over them. 387 That was again an exceptional measure, which was allowed to contravene the Organic Law 1/1979, of September 26th, General Penitentiary, whose section 1 states that the fundamental purpose of the penitentiary centers is “the reeducation and social rehabilitation of those with custodial sentences”, which is a constitutional mandate (section 25.2), and section 12.1 which recommends that the custodial sentences be carried out in prisons of the same regions in order to prevent the social uprooting of the prisoners. In any case, as we will see below, that strategy of dispersion would be applied later also to all Muslims accused of terrorist crimes and under preventative arrest. In 1988, the general consensus that terrorism in Spain was caused by political reasons led to most of Basque political parties (including the Basque sections of AP, the precedent of Popular Party, and of the Socialist Party PSOE) to subscribe, in January, to the Pact of Normalization and Pacification of Euskadi at Ajuria Enea (seat of the Basque government), where they urged ETA to abandon their arms and defend their ideas through peaceful means; proposed social rehabilitation of members of the organization who renounced violence; this foresaw a dialogue at the end of the process of pacification; and proposed the abolishment of the existing anti-terrorist law, which took place in the same year, 1988.
385
L. Gracia Martín, “Consideraciones críticas sobre el actualmente denominado ‘derecho penal del enemigo’”, in Revista Electrónica de Ciencia Penal y Criminología, 07-02, 2005, p. 8 386 J.R. Serrano-Piedecasas, íbid, p. 202-203. See also, W. Hassemer, “Derecho penal simbólico y protección de bienes jurídicos”, in Pena y Estado, Santiago: Editorial Jurídica Conosur. It is also available in Neopanopticum. Revista Electrónica de Derecho y Ciencias Sociales. www.neopanopticum.com.ar/1/hassemer.htm 387 M. Aranda, “Política de dispersión de determinados/as presos/as en el Estado español”, 1999, Thesis for the grade of European Master in Penal Systems and Social Problems, University of Barcelona.
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