Publication: Amistades peligrosas. Tortura y Derecho
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2013-01
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Universidad Carlos III de Madrid. Instituto de Derechos Humanos Bartolomé de las Casas; Dykinson
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Abstract
La tortura es un “instituto jurídico” de antigua tradición –nos dicen los historiadores
del Derecho–. Sin embargo, la modernidad del Derecho consiste en
la expulsión de la tortura del ámbito de lo que puede ser permitido y concebido
como legal. Esta acción de definición y regulación conceptual de la esfera jurídica,
por la cual la crueldad no puede ser permitida, se encuentra ahora en
crisis y desafiada tanto en la teoría como en la práctica del Derecho. A este
último una vez más se le relaciona con la fuerza, la violencia y el sufrimiento.
El sufrimiento, el mal –se nos dice– tiene que ser compensado y reequilibrado
con el sufrimiento, con mal. El terror ilegal se combate con el terror legal. Y en
todo caso la tortura sólo es un mal menor. Con este artículo se quiere enfocar
de manera sintética este nuevo drama del Derecho que ahora se juega frente a
nuestros ojos. Y se quiere discutir si la opción de recuperar los “buenos” antiguos
tiempos en los cuales el tormento fue parte integrante del proceso judicial
es compatible con la autocompresión de los juristas como actores de un ordenamiento
constitucional y liberal. ¿Podría de verdad ser el caso que el “estado de
excepción” fuera el corazón normativo del Estado de Derecho?
Torture is an old “legal institution” –we are told by Legal Historians–. However, Modernity in the law consists in expelling it from the precinct of what is legally conceivable and permitted. This “actio finium regundorum” of the legal sphere, where radical cruelty is not allowed, has recently and unfortunately begun to be challenged and be much less obvious, both in theory and, helas, in practice. Now, sometimes law is again and openly reconnected with violence and evil. Evil – we are instructed – will be compensated and payed back with evil. Illegal terror is fought back with legal terror. In any case torture is a lesser evil. This article would like to shortly introduce to this novel drama and to consider whether rehearsing it as in the “good”old times where torment was just another step of a criminal trial or of an effective “raison d’État” could be fitting our still widespread self-understanding of lawyers as being part and actors within a liberal culture. Could it really be the case that “state of exception” is the hard core of our rule of law?
Torture is an old “legal institution” –we are told by Legal Historians–. However, Modernity in the law consists in expelling it from the precinct of what is legally conceivable and permitted. This “actio finium regundorum” of the legal sphere, where radical cruelty is not allowed, has recently and unfortunately begun to be challenged and be much less obvious, both in theory and, helas, in practice. Now, sometimes law is again and openly reconnected with violence and evil. Evil – we are instructed – will be compensated and payed back with evil. Illegal terror is fought back with legal terror. In any case torture is a lesser evil. This article would like to shortly introduce to this novel drama and to consider whether rehearsing it as in the “good”old times where torment was just another step of a criminal trial or of an effective “raison d’État” could be fitting our still widespread self-understanding of lawyers as being part and actors within a liberal culture. Could it really be the case that “state of exception” is the hard core of our rule of law?
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Keywords
Tortura, Estado de Derecho, Violencia, Crueldad, Estado de excepción, Torture, Rule of law, Violence, Cruelty, State of exception
Bibliographic citation
Derechos y Libertades: revista de filosofía del derecho y derechos humanos, enero 2013, n. 28, pp.