CASTELLS v. SPAIN JUDGMENT 6 operative attitude and had declared that his article had been intended merely as a political denunciation and not to insult or threaten the Government or its members. 10. On 12 December 1981 the applicant's defence counsel challenged four of the five members of the relevant division of the Supreme Court. It was submitted that their political convictions and the posts which they had held under the previous political regime disqualified them from hearing a case concerning the freedom of opinion of an individual who, like the applicant, had been a notorious opponent of the regime in question. They relied on Article 54 para. 9 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. After several interlocutory applications, including one which resulted in a decision of the Constitutional Court on 12 July 1982 enjoining the Supreme Court to find the challenge admissible, the latter court, sitting in plenary session, dismissed the challenge on its merits on 11 January 1983. The Supreme Court took the view that although the judges had indeed sat in the Criminal Division of the Supreme Court under the previous political regime and one of them had, from 1966 to 1968, been the presiding judge in the Public Order Court, they had at that time merely applied the legislation in force. On 4 May 1983 the Constitutional Court dismissed an appeal (amparo) which Mr Castells had lodged alleging a violation of Article 24 para. 2 of the Constitution (right to an impartial tribunal). It found that the fact that the judges in question might have political convictions differing from those of the applicant could not be regarded as being of direct or indirect relevance (interés directo o indirecto) to the solution of the dispute within the meaning of Article 54 para. 9 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. 11. In the meantime the investigation of the case had progressed. On 3 February 1982 the public prosecutor had concluded that the facts constituted an offence of proffering serious insults against the Government and demanded a prison sentence of six years and a day. In their memorial (conclusiones provisionales) of 2 April 1982, the defence lawyers contended that the disputed article contained accurate information and did not express the accused's personal opinion, but the views of the general public. They offered to adduce evidence to establish the truth of the information. In particular they suggested that the competent authorities should produce reports on any police inquiries, detentions, prosecutions or other measures undertaken against the members of the extreme right-wing groups responsible for the attacks denounced in the article; as the facts reported were common knowledge they could not be said to be insulting. In addition, the defence lawyers requested that evidence be taken from fifty-two witnesses, including members of the Belgian, Italian, French, English, Irish and Danish parliaments and of the European Parliament, on the matter of parliamentary practice regarding the freedom of political criticism; they argued that the accused had acted in his capacity as