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DE RUEHMD #0137/01 0420846
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P 110846Z FEB 08
FM AMEMBASSY MADRID
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 4217
INFO RUEAWJA/DEPT OF JUSTICE WASHDC PRIORITY
RUCPDOC/DEPT OF COMMERCE WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEAHLC/HOMELAND SECURITY CENTER WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RUEHLA/AMCONSUL BARCELONA 3272

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 MADRID 000137 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR CA/OCS/CI, EB/TPP/IPE, G/TIP AND EUR/WE 
G FOR ANNE CARSON 
G/DRL/IRF FOR JACK CRODDY AND NANCY HEWETT 
STATE PASS USTR (JGROVES, CWILSON) 
STATE PASS COMMERCE (ITA - DCALVERT) 
STATE PAST TO USPTO (MSHAPIRO) 
STATE PASS U.S. COPYRIGHT OFFICE (MSKELTON) 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/10/2018 
TAGS: PREL PGOV KOCI KIPR ETRD ECON KIRF KJAN CVIS
SP 
SUBJECT: SPAIN: CHARGE DISCUSSES IPR, RELIGIOUS FREEDOM, 
TIP, AND THE CARRASCOSA CASE WITH DEPUTY JUSTICE MINISTER 
 
REF: A. 2006 MADRID 2241 
 
     ¶B. 2007 MADRID 2093 
 
Classified By: CDA Hugo Llorens for Reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) 
 
¶1. (C) In a February 7 meeting with Spanish Secretary of 
State for Justice Julio Perez-Hernandez (Deputy Justice 
Minister equivalent) that focused primarily on our pending 
request to extradite alleged Syrian arms dealer Monzer 
Al-Kassar (SEPTEL), the Charge also raised USG concerns on 
intellectual property rights, religious freedom, and 
trafficking in persons.  The meeting concluded with a 
discussion of the ongoing Carrascosa child abduction case and 
the latest changes to our Visa Waiver Program. 
Perez-Hernandez is a straight shooter and a good contact of 
this Embassy, and he endeavored to get back to us quickly 
with responses to our requests.  He also thanked us in 
advance for any additional information we could provide on 
the Carrascosa case. 
 
//INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS// 
 
¶2. (C) The Charge noted that while we usually discuss IPR 
issues with the Spanish Ministries of Industry and Culture, 
we wanted to provide him with a letter outlining USG concerns 
with a May 2006 "Circular" issued by the Spanish Attorney 
General to Spanish prosecutors informing them that 
downloading or uploading using peer-to-peer file sharing 
systems is not subject to criminal prosecution unless there 
is a commercial profit motive, even though it may be illegal 
from a civil law standpoint.  The Charge said we understand 
that GOS officials have in the past said that this does not 
mean it considers this type of file sharing legal, but the 
reality was that as a result of the Circular, Internet users' 
associations and others believed the GOS permits this file 
sharing.  The Charge noted that this has upset Spanish and 
American industry groups, given the large amount of 
intellectual property stolen over the Internet, and asked the 
Deputy Justice Minister for his Ministry's assistance in 
changing the perspective in Spain that this type of file 
sharing is a benign activity.  Perez-Hernandez seemed to be 
genuinely unaware of the existence of this Circular and 
maintained that Spain was absolutely committed to protecting 
IPR, and in fact had rather stringent laws on its books to 
punish IPR theft.  He noted that this Circular was almost two 
years old and that it was very possible that it was no longer 
in effect.  He endeavored to dig deeper into this issue and 
to respond in writing to the Embassy with the MOJ response by 
February 21. 
 
//RELIGIOUS FREEDOM// 
 
¶3. (C) The Charge then laid out ongoing U.S. concerns with 
religious freedom in Spain and urged the next Spanish 
government (due to be seated around the middle of April after 
Spain's March 9 national elections) to move quickly to amend 
the Law on Patronage (ley de mecenazgo) and the Royal Decree, 
which establish formal relationships between the Spanish 
state and Spain's four major religious denominations (REFTEL 
A).  This would allow Mormons, Jehovah's Witnesses, 
Buddhists, and other faiths that have "notorio arraigo" 
(deeply rooted) status in Spain to share the same benefits 
and privileges that Catholics, Protestants, and Muslims 
currently enjoy.  The Charge emphasized that the USG viewed 
this issue as a matter of religious freedom.  Secretary 
Perez-Hernandez yielded the floor to Mercedes Rico, MOJ 
Director General of Religious Affairs, who said that although 
it may not look from the outside as if the GOS has made much 
progress on this issue, in fact they had.  Rico noted the 
difficulty of changing Spanish law on this issue, but the 
fact that notorio arraigo had been granted to Mormons in 
2003, Jehovah's Witnesses in 2006, and Buddhists in 2007, 
showed clear progress on the part of the Spanish government. 
Rico confirmed that amending the Law on Patronage would in 
fact be a top priority of the new Spanish legislature, as the 
GOS believed that all faiths with notorio arraigo deserved 
access to the same financial benefits.  Rico then said she 
wanted to speak frankly, and blamed the Spanish Ministry of 
Hacienda (Treasury) for dragging its feet on awarding the 
 
MADRID 00000137  002 OF 003 
 
 
other faiths access to financial benefits.  Rico said that 
Hacienda's policy had been to say "No" to everything, which 
has stalled the issue.  The Charge then said that the Embassy 
could reach out to either the Treasury State Secretary or 
Secretary General to push our concerns.  Both Rico and 
 
SIPDIS 
Perez-Hernandez said that might be a good idea, but asked 
that we wait until the MOJ presents an official "legislative 
project" on this issue early in the new legislature. 
 
//TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS// 
 
¶4. (C) The discussion then turned to human trafficking as the 
Charge emphasized the high-level U.S. interest in this topic 
and inquired about the status of Spain's national action plan 
to combat TIP.  The Charge told Perez-Hernandez that Spain 
had always been ranked in Tier 1 as a recognition that Spain 
was making strong efforts to fight this social scourge, but 
that the Department looks for countries to show progress each 
year to maintain its top ranking.  He said we understood the 
Spanish government had been drafting its national action plan 
for some time and wondered when it might officially be 
approved.  Perez-Hernandez replied that this plan was under 
the auspices of first Vice President Fernandez de la Vega and 
he promised to contact the VP's office to obtain an update on 
the current status of the plan.  He reiterated that Spain 
took the fight against TIP seriously and had made great 
strides in recent years on the law enforcement and judicial 
fronts.  He said he wanted to do what he could to ensure 
Washington was aware of the strong efforts Spain was making. 
 
¶5. (C) Separately, Embassy Madrid's Political Counselor met 
February 7 with Irune Aguirrezabal, senior advisor on human 
trafficking in the office of the Spanish Vice President.  She 
said that having Spain's national action plan approved by the 
Council of Ministers and put into effect was a priority for 
the government.  However, she noted that approval was 
unlikely to happen before Spain's March 9 general election. 
Aguirrezabal said the plan's rollout has been delayed due to 
the need to thoroughly vet the plan and consult within the 
government and with Spain's civil society.  She said the GOS 
opted for a well-crafted plan with institutional buy-in 
rather than something that fell short of that goal.  The GOS 
has noted recent OSCE interest in their national anti-TIP 
plan and will submit the plan to that international body for 
their review and comment.  She believes the OSCE will review 
the plan in April or May and that approval by the Council of 
Ministers will come in June or July.  She added that this 
particular national plan deals with trafficking for sexual 
exploitation.  The GOS is working on a separate national 
action plan to combat trafficking for the purposes of forced 
labor. 
 
//THE CARRASCOSA CASE// 
 
¶6. (C) As we have reported extensively (most recently in 
REFTEL B), the long-running case of Maria Jose Carrascosa, a 
Spanish attorney from Valencia held in a New Jersey prison 
since November 2006 for contempt of court after failing to 
produce her daughter before a New Jersey court, has received 
a lot of sensational press based on pictures of "a mother in 
chains," and has been a high priority for a Spanish 
government wanting to be seen doing everything it can to 
defend its citizens abroad.  We continue to stress that this 
is the tragic example of the breakup of a family, and a 
matter for the U.S. courts over which we have no jurisdiction 
or influence.  We have always stressed the need for 
Carrascosa and her ex-husband, Peter Innes, to come to a 
settlement and do what is in the best interests of their 
young daughter Victoria.  The Charge also told 
Perez-Hernandez that he felt compelled to reiterate our view 
that Ms. Carrascosa has been and continues to be intransigent 
and uncompromising, and has yet to respond to a (in our view) 
sensible settlement offer from Innes that would allow for 
Victoria to remain in Spain, while visiting her father in the 
U.S. during summers and alternate holidays.  Perez-Hernandez 
agreed that Ms. Carrascosca has been unreasonable in not 
responding to her former husband's settlement offer.  The 
Charge and Perez-Hernandez discussed the fact that the window 
for a settlement is drawing to a close, as Carrascosa is 
 
MADRID 00000137  003 OF 003 
 
 
expected to go on trial in a New Jersey court on February 19 
on state charges of kidnapping.  If convicted, she 
potentially could spend a long time in jail.  The Charge 
mentioned the work of Consular Affair's Office of Children's 
Issues, who has proposed that the relevant judges and 
attorneys meet in the Hague to try and reach an agreement. 
We believe this is an effort worth pursuing with great vigor, 
and it would be good to have in attendance both the New 
Jersey state judge involved in the case (whom we have heard 
is positively predisposed to the idea), as well as the 
federal judge hearing the Habeas Corpus case. 
 
¶7. (C) Perez-Hernandez reiterated to the Charge that this 
case is of utmost interest to the Spanish government, and 
admitted that much of the Spanish population is emotionally 
involved in this case due to the pictures of Carrascosa in an 
orange prison jumpsuit, shackled at the wrists and ankles. 
He says these pictures and the case itself have damaged the 
U.S. image in the eyes of many Spaniards.  He said that 
Spanish law does not have the equivalent of a "contempt of 
court" violation and that many Spanish citizens do not 
understand how Carrascosa can be subject to an indefinite 
prison sentence until, in his words, "this particular judge 
in New Jersey determines that she has obeyed his judicial 
ruling."  Perez-Hernandez said that there should be some end 
in sight to the prison sentence, and said only half-jokingly 
that perhaps it was best for her to be tried and convicted on 
the kidnapping charges, because at least then, "she would 
know how long she had to remain in prison before being 
released."  The Charge and Perez-Hernandez both added that 
they hope this case does not come to that, and agreed to stay 
in contact and make sure each remained up to speed on the 
latest developments in the case. 
 
¶8. (U) The meeting ended with a short discussion of the new 
aspects of the Visa Waiver Program, and the Charge said that 
as soon as we received the MOU from the Department of 
Homeland Security we would share it with the Spanish.  As the 
Spanish Embassy in Washington should have already received a 
copy, we said it was quite possible the MOJ would hear about 
it through their own channels.  The Charge stressed that 
Spain already met most, if not all, of the new requirements 
and thus would not be greatly affected by the changes. 
LLORENS