The right of defense against the Criminal Code: the new crime of hiding information about the whereas of the corpse

Abstract

LO 14/2022, of 23 December incorporates a second paragraph to art. 173.1 CP among the crimes against moral integrity, which punishes those who conceal information on the whereabouts of the corpse under the justification that it is a behaviour that increases the suffering of the family and relatives, thus implying an attack on their moral in-tegrity. But these behaviours of keeping silent or concealing information by means of obstruction or false versions that constitute manifestations of the right to defence enshrined in Article 24 of the Spanish Constitution and which entails the prohibition of any type of coercion or threat to the citizen aimed at making them confess to the facts or testify against themselves. This paper focuses on the analysis of the possible coexistence between the new offence and the right to defence, and the determination of whether or not the new offence infringes a fundamental right.