Spanish Civil Guards union pushes back on military jurisdiction

We learn from this piece in La Opinión of a growing controversy over the application of military justice to Spain's gendarmerie, the Guardia Civil. Evidently, the heart of the problem is a controversial 2012 decision of the Supreme Court expanding military jurisdiction:

The Unified Association of Civil Guards (AUGC) has demanded removal of the Military Criminal Code on the ground that it threatens fundamental rights and implies that the policemen are soldiers when carrying out their police duties, and accuses the government of wanting them to be "militarized police" and "not to question the orders of their superiors." The head of the association with the largest representation in the Civil Guard (over 30,000 members), Alberto Moya, at a press conference in Santa Cruz de Tenerife yesterday described the grave situation facing the Guardia Civil's use of the Military Penal Code. Moya was accompanied by AUGC's secretary genera for Tenerife province, Juan Fernández, and the secretary of the Association, José Farfán. 

Some 30 civil guards are currently pending military prosecution, "a situation 'unprecedented' in the rest of Europe." Moya and Fernández pointed out that civil guards by law were supposed to be subject to the Military Penal Code only in "extraordinary situations" and in time of war, siege or while performing military missions or when police are integrated in military units. [Rough Google translation.]