Thursday, March 28

The Supreme condemns three young people who slashed a Spanish flag in Barcelona


The Supreme Court has decided to sentence to fines of up to 2,160 euros three young people who in 2016 slashed a Spanish flag at the Autonomous University of Barcelona. The judges estimate an appeal from the Prosecutor’s Office and revoke the acquittal to finally convict them of a crime of outrage against the flag, understanding that they were not protected by freedom of expression and that they executed “a violent, coercive, imposing gesture” by taking away the flag to representatives of the Catalan Civil Society and break it.

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The decision has not been unanimous and one of the five magistrates, Javier Hernández, has opted to maintain the acquittal.

The events studied by the Supreme Court occurred in April 2016 at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. The three accused students, who belonged to the pro-independence Sindicat d’Estudiants del Països Catalans (SEPC), they tore into several pieces a Spanish flag that belonged to a post of members of the Catalan Civil Society (SCC). The badge was cracked but, according to the Justice, without performing any act of coercion to its owners when it was taken from them. A Sabadell court imposed fines of more than 2,000 euros for a crime of outrage against Spain, but they were later acquitted by the Barcelona Provincial Court with two votes in favor and one against.

It was the Prosecutor’s Office that took the case to the Supreme Court with an appeal that was committed to considering that cutting that flag of Spain was not an act of protest or politics protected by freedom of expression. His lawyer, Adrià Roger, defended in his writings that this case had to end in acquittal following in the wake of what was said by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in Strasbourg when he protected Enric Stern and Jaume Roura. The two had been convicted of burning a photo of the king in 2007 in Girona and the court established that it was an act of protest protected by freedom of expression.



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