Diplomatic protection and State liability: the Couso case

Abstract

Judgment 4391/2019 of the Audiencia Nacional of Spain has ordered the Spanish State to compensate the family of the journalist José Couso for the damages caused by the omission in the exercise of diplomatic protection. The ruling recognizes the patrimonial responsibility of the Spanish Administration, providing the novelty that it is the first time that it has been done without a causal link between the damage caused to a national by a third State and the behaviors previously developed by the Spanish administration. However, the legal construction of the Judgment is debatable, both as a consequence of some of the arguments used and by the weak development of others. The Supreme Court has the opportunity to confirm the progress or maintain its previous doctrine.