Constitutional strategy from the investigation stage · Madrid and Alicante
The amparo appeal has an implacable filter: special constitutional relevance. Since 2007 the violation of the right is not enough: it must be justified that the case allows the Court to establish doctrine, clarify case law or address a generalised breach.
In brief. More than ninety-five per cent of amparos are inadmitted; technique makes the difference. Added to the relevance filter are the scrupulous exhaustion of the prior judicial route, including the nullity motion where it applies, and the timely invocation of each violation from the moment it occurred. The amparo is prepared from the investigation stage, not after the last judgment.
The amparo appeal has an implacable filter: special constitutional relevance. Since the 2007 reform the violation of the right is not enough: the applicant must justify that the case allows the Court to establish doctrine, clarify its case law or confront a generalised breach. To that are added the scrupulous exhaustion of the prior judicial route, including the nullity motion of Article 241 LOPJ where it applies, and the timely invocation of each violation from the moment it occurred.
The amparo is prepared from the investigation stage, not after the last judgment. That is why we design the complete procedural strategy with the constitutional and European routes in view: every violation invoked at the right moment is a door that stays open.
| Stage | Deadline | What is decided | The key point |
|---|---|---|---|
| Invocation | At the moment | Each violation raised when it occurs | The door that stays open |
| Exhaustion | Per procedure | Every useful remedy attempted | Cassation and, where needed, nullity motion |
| Nullity motion | 20 days | Violations caused by the final decision | Erring here, by excess or defect, inadmits |
| Amparo | 30 days | Special constitutional relevance | STC 155/2009 categories, built from the claim |
| Suspension | With the claim | Article 56 LOTC | Frequent for short sentences; argued for long ones |
| Admission | Court filter | More than 95% fall here | Technique and relevance decide |
| Judgment | Months to years | Annulment and retroaction | The violation repaired |
| ECHR | 4 months | Strasbourg application | A favourable judgment reopens via Art. 954.3 LECrim |
Deadlines and routes are set out in general terms; each case demands verification of its own dates and procedural chain.
Special constitutional relevance is an autonomous requirement: the case must serve to establish or clarify constitutional doctrine, not merely evidence an individual violation. Justifying it requires knowing the admitted categories (STC 155/2009) and building the fit from the claim itself; its generic formulation inadmits without more. And the itinerary matters as much as the substance: whether the nullity motion precedes the amparo depends on which decision caused the violation, and erring in that step, by excess or by defect, is a frequent cause of inadmission.
We design the amparo already thinking of Strasbourg: the application to the European Court of Human Rights within four months from the last domestic decision, whose favourable judgment permits the review of the conviction under Article 954.3 LECrim. Every violation invoked in time, every remedy exhausted and every argument preserved is ammunition for that final route.
Those whose fundamental rights were violated at trial or on appeal: the thirty-day window and the built relevance.
Unreasoned or disproportionate detentions: the Article 17 route with special speed.
Trial lawyers seeking constitutional specialists: we take the amparo respecting the prior defence.
Matters whose real horizon is the European Court: the amparo designed as the necessary step.
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