Human rights court confirms ruling that outlawed ANV

The European Court of Human Rights on Tuesday confirmed a ruling by Spain's Constitutional Court, the highest in the country, that outlawed the Basque left-wing party ANV and barred it from standing in the elections and from engaging in any political activity.

Relying in particular on Article 11 (freedom of assembly and 4), lawyers for ANV alleged, in particular, that its dissolution had amounted to a violation of its right to freedom of expression and its right to freedom of association.

In January 2008, Spain began proceedings for the party's dissolution on the grounds that it had breached the Institutional Law on political parties by continuing or taking over the activities of the political parties Batasuna, Herri Batasuna and Euskal Herritarrok, which had been dissolved.

The Attorney General also began proceedings for the party's dissolution. In a unanimous judgment of 22 September 2008 the Supreme Court declared the applicant party to be illegal and ordered its dissolution on the ground that it had collaborated in serious and repeated fashion with Batasuna and had lent political support to the armed Basque group ETA.