People who judge severely criticise Spanish article (5)
I believe the answer is:
panel
'people who judge' is the definition.
(as in a judging panel)
'severely criticise spanish article' is the wordplay.
'severely criticise' becomes 'pan' (pan can mean to criticise heavily).
'spanish article' becomes 'el'.
'pan'+'el'='PANEL'
(Other definitions for panel that I've seen before include "Plane (anag.)" , "Board for instruments" , "a selection of which is put in box" , "Group selected to judge a competition" , "regularly beaten by bodywork experts?" .)