Overview

• The EU Court of Justice held that Spain cannot prosecute María Soledad Iparaguirre for the same material facts for which she was convicted in France.
• Judges in Luxembourg said different legal classifications or interests pursued in two member states do not override the non bis in idem safeguard.
• The Audiencia Nacional must now determine whether the Oviedo barracks attack case concerns the same conduct covered by the French final judgment.
• Iparaguirre, known as ‘Anboto’, served a 20-year sentence in France and was surrendered to Spain in 2019 under a European arrest and surrender order.
• Spanish law does not allow merging foreign and domestic sentences, creating a potential cumulative minimum of roughly 50 years if a second prosecution were permitted.