CASTELLS v. SPAIN JUDGMENT CONCURRING OPINION OF JUDGE PEKKANEN 24 CONCURRING OPINION OF JUDGE PEKKANEN In his article Mr Castells firstly enumerated a list of murders and attacks carried out in the Basque Country and stressed that they still remained unsolved and unpunished. He also evoked the involvement of various extreme right-wing organisations. From these facts he then drew the conclusion that: "Behind these acts there can only be the Government, the party of the Government and their personnel". Mr Castells was sentenced by the Supreme Court for proffering insults of a less serious kind against the Government. The Supreme Court found inter alia that the insults proffered with the aim of political criticism had exceeded the permissible limits of such criticism and attacked the Government's honour. The Supreme Court was also of the opinion that the defence of truth (exceptio veritatis) was not admissible in such cases under Spanish law. The Court attached decisive importance to the fact that the Supreme Court of Spain declared the defence of truth inadmissible for the offence in question. Unfortunately I am unable to accept this opinion. The decisive fact for a violation of Article 10 (art. 10) of the Convention is, in my view, that Mr Castells was punished for holding the opinion that the Government was responsible for the incidents in question and publishing it. With regard to the question of exceptio veritatis, which is discussed at length in the judgment, I consider that it was not possible for Mr Castells to prove the truthfulness of his opinion, an opinion expressed as part of a political debate and affirming that the Government was behind the murders and attacks in question. Exceptio veritatis is therefore not relevant in the instant case. For a finding of a violation of Article 10 (art. 10) of the Convention it is sufficient that Mr Castells was punished for criticising the Government when he had done so in a way which should be allowed in a democratic society.