Spain Legally Declares the Value of a Person
I find the recent verdict in the Spain terrorism trial fascinating. On Halloween, 21 out of the 28 defendants of the March 2004 bombing that left 190 dead and 1800 injured were found guilty of various legal aspects of terrorism. Three of the defendants received sentences of 34,000 to 43,000 years in jail. Wow. Now that’s what I’m talking about! That means that the jury valued the persons murdered in the range of 179-226 years per individual.
Now it is noted that the verdict is largely symbolic. There is no death sentence in Spain and the maximum sentence for terrorism is only 40 years. But nevertheless, it is a cry from the jury for payment, for restoration, for a penalty that fits the crime. Spanish Prime Minister José Zapatero welcomed the verdict saying, “Justice was rendered today.” Though I know what he means, but it is only true in a very narrow sense. All of the ‘justice’ allowed by the Spanish law was rendered today. But not ‘all justice’ was rendered.
Biblically each of the victims—image bearers of the Creator God were worth far more than 226 years of the perpetrator’s life. They are each individually so valuable, that there is no way for the terrorists to ever pay for their crime in the highest sense. Secondly, justice not only requires a punishment—suitable for the crime, but restitution for the victims. In this sense, ‘justice’ was only partially rendered. For the living victims, there is a season of validation of their worth and value and a symbolic gesture of how the community measures their worth. To sentence someone 43,000 years for a crime is a bold statement that the victims were indeed people of great worth. The terrorist act was a great crime against very valuable people. But in a higher sense, an important ‘greater justice’ for the victims is missing. The sentence, even if it was fully executed, does not come anywhere near restoring what was taken. There are those who lost their lives, who suffered and may still be suffering from injuries, fears, insecurities—those whose lives were irreparably changed without their permission. The ‘justice’ for them—for the victims was not truly rendered. Why? Because Spanish law, much like our own is only designed to be punitive, not restorative.
The victims still long for a deeper justice, a higher justice, a greater justice from a court with the authority to truly restore what was taken. But the Spanish courts fall short of this hope.