116
ted to receive AI Secretary General Martin Ennals on 17 April 1975 to assure him that the death sentence had not been confirmed yet. After discussing the plight of prisoners in Romania adopted by AI, the ambassador promised to pass on the information to the authorities in Bucharest and seek their comments.
Spain
In spite of continuous and wide-ranging work on this country for many years, Spain remains one of Amnesty International's deep concerns.
The new government of Carlos Arias Navarro, who in January 1974 succeeded the assassinated Admiral Luis Carrero Blanco as Prime Minister, at first raised hopes of "liberalization". Trials, however, continued and the civil Public Order Courts and the military courts martial were all fully active, dealing with consci- entious objectors, members of clandestine political parties, students, intellectuals, members of the various workers' movements, etc.
During 1974 an estimated 9,000 cases came before the political courts, and between April and May 1975, the introduction of a state of emergency in the Basque country, with suspension of habeas corpus, brought about more than 2,000 arrests, of which more than 900 remain in prison. Al adoptions in Spain have increased to a total of approximately 450 cases in spite of the fairly regular release of prisoners as they finish their sentences.
The major concerns of AI not only remain unresolved, but have drastically increased. The number of death penalties asked for both political and non-poli- tical prisoners has risen, so has the number of lawyers, doctors and priests arrested and fined for carrying out their professional duties. Allegations of ill-treatment have increased and AI remains concerned at the denials of access to defence and at the fact that conscientious objection is still considered a crime.
In October 1974, Secretary General Martin Ennals wrote to the Prime Minister, the Minister of Justice and the Minister of Foreign Affairs asking them to receive an AI delegation. The purpose of the mission was to establish official contact with the new government; confirm that letters and visits from AI groups to their adopted prisoners could continue, and discuss the specific issues of human rights concern to AI. The Spanish authorities made no response, and the mission did not take place.
In December 1974, a wave of hunger strikes started in Spanish prisons as part of a campaign for a general amnesty for political prisoners on the occasion of Holy Year in 1975. The strikes spread to all prisons where political prisoners are detained. Participants were sent to solitary confinement cells as a result. All AI groups working for Spanish prisoners were asked to send telegrams to the Minis- try, of Justice expressing concern and showing support for such an amnesty.
In specific cases the Secretary General intervened directly, and missions were sent to observe two important trials. On 8 October 1974, Mr Ennals sent a tele- gram to Minister of Justice Francisco Ruiz-Jarabo. He expressed deep concern about the disturbing news of the ill-treatment of several Spanish intellectuals, among them Genoveva Forest, who were allegedly connected with the Madrid bombing in September 1974 and the assassination of Prime Minister Carrero Blanco in December 1973. Mr Ennals asked for the restoration of the right to access to defence and respect for human lives. The detainees were said to have