Court of Public Order

Tribunal de Orden Público
Tribunal de Orden Público
	The Convent of the Salesas Reales, headquarters of the Public Order Court
	40°25′28.3″N 3°41′37.94″W / 40.424528°N 3.6938722°W
Established	December 1963 to January 1977
Location	Madrid
Coordinates	40°25′28.3″N 3°41′37.94″W / 40.424528°N 3.6938722°W

The Court of Public Order (Spanish: Tribunal de Orden Público) was a court created in

special court

.

Similar to the German

official party, and their decisions were made according to the then existing Laws. There were instances, however, where many arbitrary decisions were taken.^[2]

It was established in December 1963, following

firing squad, replacing the Tribunal Especial para la Represión de la Masonería y el Comunismo. It was based in the Convent of the Salesas Reales in Madrid

.

Though its main goal was to repress political crimes in Spain, the Court could not issue death penalties, as these could only be issued by military courts. Therefore, the most serious political and terrorist crimes were dealt with by the military courts, whose death sentences had to be signed by Franco personally.

History

The Public Order Court's purpose was to guarantee the stability of the

Francoist State, by punishing within Spanish territory "those crimes whose characteristic was to subvert the basic principles of the state or to wreak havoc in the national conscience".^[2]

Some of the high-profile cases handled by the Tribunal de Orden Público during Franco's rule include the

Caso Montenegro in 1964, following a string of explosions in Madrid,^[3] and the Proceso 1001 in 1973, in which the leaders of the Workers' Commissions (CCOO) trade union were imprisoned.^[4]

The Public Order Tribunal ceased operations by Royal Decree in 1977, two years after Franco's death. The Audiencia Nacional, one of the bodies established during the Spanish transition to democracy was created the same day in order to take charge of certain non-political crimes considered nationwide like terrorism.