MADRID (AFP)---Spain’s constitutional court has decided to eliminate prison sentences for Holocaust denial from the country’s penal code, according to press reports.

The code provided for one or two years in jail for anyone who disseminated theories or teachings that denied or justified genocide, such as the Nazi liquidation of Europe’s Jews.

The new ruling makes only the justification of genocide punishable by prison.

The constitutional court’s judgement, to be published in full next week, follows the quashing by a Barcelona court of a five-year prison sentence imposed on a bookstore owner who sold books praising Nazism, El Pais daily reported.

In April the European Union made inciting racism and xenophobia crimes throughout its 27 member states in a landmark decision tempered by caveats to appease free speech concerns.

It said one- to three-year prison terms should be available for incitement to violence or hatred "against a group of persons or a member of such a group defined by reference to race, colour, religion, descent or national or ethnic origin."

The text also noted that "member states may choose to punish only conduct which is either carried out in a manner likely to disturb public order or which is threatening, abusive or insulting."

The decision came after almost six years of wrangling and fell short of Germany’s ambitions of specifically outlawing Holocaust denial, which ran up against objections over freedom of speech.

To make the text acceptable to Britain, Ireland and the Scandinavian states -- particularly concerned about curbs to their freedoms of expression -- Holocaust denial only qualifies under the EU-wide rules if it is deemed likely to incite hatred.

It is covered in a clause that states that the penalties will also apply to "publicly, condoning, denying or grossly trivialising crimes of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes," as defined by the International Criminal Court and the post-World War II Nuremberg trials.

Holocaust denial is already specifically targeted by laws in Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Poland and Romania.