He assures that “the logical thing” is that “those who disagree with a party” can protest at its headquarters.
Judge Concepción Jerez has agreed to archive the investigation into the events that occurred last New Year’s Eve next to the party’s national headquarters on Ferraz Street, when a doll identified with the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, was hanged and beaten, assuring that ” Lack of education is not a crime.”
In an order this Thursday, collected by Europa Press, the head of the Court of Instruction 26 of Madrid assures that the expressions made that day “do not constitute incitement to hatred either to the President of the Government” or to the PSOE and “therefore they should not be “persecuted” by Justice.
“Perhaps it is not well regarded from a civic point of view, and the language is vulgar and profane, and obviously, they could be reprehensible from this perspective, but lack of education is not a crime. It may be unpleasant for the person in question or his supporters, but it is not a crime,” says the judge.
The judge also rules out that it is a hate crime, ensuring that considering it as such would be “detrimental to pluralism, tolerance and the spirit that sustains a democratic society” as in her opinion the Spanish one is.
“What is logical is that, within a system of political pluralism, those who disagree with a political party can express their discontent in various ways, such as gathering in front of the party headquarters and using derogatory expressions,” he justifies.
But the fact is that, in addition, the magistrate assures that at the rally on December 31 “the ideology of the attendees is unknown and whether this is common to them.” “They are not linked to any group. Therefore, it can hardly be considered that with the behavior analyzed they express hatred towards another group,” she adds.
Along these lines, the judge points out that “pursuing hate messages is justified when they are motivated by racial, xenophobic or anti-Semitic issues, but not when they are directed against an institution subject to political criticism, such as the Executive branch.”
Finally, the magistrate assures that “the most violent act carried out by the attendees was hitting a piñata or cardboard doll that represents a figure with the appearance of a unibrowed male, with prominent ears and a long nose.” “In no case does his appearance reproduce the image of the President of the Government,” she concludes.
It was this same week when the lieutenant prosecutor of the AN, Marta Durántez, agreed to send the investigations carried out in relation to the events reported by the PSOE to the Madrid courts. The proceedings were initiated on January 12 after receiving a transfer from the State Attorney General’s Office of the political party’s complaint and on the morning of January 22, ten days later, they learned “of the presentation before the investigative courts of Madrid of a police report for the same facts”.
Durántez explained in his decree that this police report was finally distributed to an investigative court, so he agreed to refer his investigations to that court “to be joined to the previous proceedings.”
THE COMPLAINT OF THE PSOE
In their complaint, almost 60 pages long, and to which Europa Press had access, the socialists pointed to a possible crime of inciting hatred based on political ideology. As this type of crime can only be applied if it is exercised against vulnerable groups, they argued that the PSOE was persecuted during the Franco dictatorship and during the Civil War.
In addition, they included other possible crimes, such as incitement to violence and assassination; insults against the authority in the exercise of their office; serious insults and threats to the Government of the nation; threats to the President of the Government and the PSOE and its militants as a social group – with an aggravating factor of ideological discrimination -; crime of unlawful assembly or demonstration; or public disorder, the latter being the one that can carry the greatest penalty: 5 years in prison.
They also considered that a crime of illegal financing may have been committed by Vox because, in their opinion, there have been coordinated and organized actions that entail obtaining financial funds for the organization of events that seem to have “a common link” with this formation. .
LINKAGE WITH VOX
In this sense, the PSOE emphasized the link between the promoters of the event and Santiago Abascal’s party, the Revuelta youth organization, based on journalistic information that places it as an entity related to Vox.
The complaint detailed that one of the leaders of Revuelta, Pablo González Lasca, is responsible for the party’s Digital Marketing, and “it appears that he works in close connection with the Vox deputy, Manuel Mariscal, at the head of the national deputy secretary of Communication.”
In any case, the PSOE clarified that Revuelta is not legally constituted as an association and, therefore, other associations were used, such as Plataforma 711 and ASOMA, which do have a legal formula that allows them to contract and request administrative authorizations.
The socialists specified that Platform 711 was registered by a group of people, including Santiago Aneiros and Javier Majadas, Vox candidates in the municipal elections last May in the town of Algente (Madrid). Another of them, Sergio Garrudo, is the son of Ricardo Garrudo, founder along with Santiago Abascal of the DENAES Foundation, later president of the party in Cantabria until October 2022.
Finally, to underline the relationship that in its opinion exists between Vox and the reported events, the PSOE alleged that what happened on December 31 was “the culmination” of the “harassment” of socialist headquarters in different parts of Spain, also recalling the statements made by Abascal on December 10 to an Argentine media. “There will be a time when the people will want to hang Pedro Sánchez by the feet,” he said.
THE PRESENTERS OF THE GRAPES
The socialists also focused on the presenters of the event, “María Durán and Isaac Parejo”, highlighting that in an interview that both gave in the previous days, they appreciated “the attitude with which the event was prepared, which manifests the premeditated intention of lynching and hatred towards the president, the Government and the PSOE that presided over the call”.
The complaint also highlights that during the broadcast “they heated up the atmosphere” and moments before taking the grapes Parejo declared: “Fuck Pedro Sánchez, son of a bitch.” And when they asked him what he asked for the new year 2024, he answered: “Happy year 2024, happy year 2024 to everyone, happy 1936 for the fucking red shit.”
