Spain
Practice Relating to Rule 103. Collective Punishments
Spain’s LOAC Manual (1996) prohibits collective punishments.
The manual further stresses that “any collective punishment for individual acts” is prohibited.
Spain’s LOAC Manual (2007) states:
[N]o person who is captured or detained in relation to an armed conflict remains unprotected under the law of armed conflict and is entitled, at all times, to minimum guarantees. [These include] … prohibition of the following acts at any time and in any place, whether committed by civilian or military agents: … collective punishments.
The manual also states that prisoners of war must not be subjected to “collective punishment for individual acts”.
Under Spain’s Penal Code (1995), “the imposition of collective punishments” is an offence.
Spain’s Penal Code (1995), as amended in 2003, states:
Anyone who [commits any of the following acts] during armed conflict shall be punished with three to seven years’ imprisonment:
…
3. … [I]mposing collective punishments for the acts of individuals.