The Criminal Court 1 of Reus (Tarragona) has acquitted the accused by the publication on Twitter of a comment in which you called ‘bastard’ to the judge of the Supreme Court Paul Llarena, instructor of the cause of the process of sovereignty, and warning him that he and his wife that they could not “go down the street” when it does not consider that it is proven that it was she who made the comment, and because you don’t see insults or threats.
In the ruling, collected by Europa Press, the owner of the Court argued that the accused intended to make clear that there is a social reality that “disagrees in respect of certain decisions and actions made by a high official of the State on the occasion of their functions, which makes it more obvious even that there was a desire of insulting Llarena or to restrict their freedom or that of his family.”
therefore, part of the commentary on the freedom of expression, recalling that the Constitutional Court and the Strasbourg Court have ruled that freedom of expression does not extend to insult, but that the restrictions must be “minimal” in the context of political debate and social critique when it is directed at a person of public relevance.
Also, the ruling considers that the investigation of the Mossos d’esquadra has not been able to prove “without reasonable doubt” that she was the one who posted the comment, because it was based on a screenshot of the tweet, because it had been deleted and the profile is privatized.
In fact, at the trial, the Catalan admitted that it was “impossible to know for sure the exact content of the tweet,” because a snapshot is writable, and in addition, the identification was based on the subsequent location of a profile of Facebook and Linkedin allegedly of the accused, although, according to the judge the only match found was the name and an address in Reus.
on the contrary, the accused is not acknowledged during the oral hearing that the profile of Twitter out of you or have done the tweet, for which he is accused, and said he does not know anything or Llarena and to his wife, Gema Espinosa, also cited in the comment.
The accused was faced with a request by the Prosecutor’s office one and a half year of imprisonment and a fine of 2,100 euros for the crime of defamation and threats or, alternatively, coercions.
In particular, the comment in the social network was: “the wife of The son of a bitch Llarena is Gema Espinosa, director of the Judicial School in Vallvidrera (to the side of the Fabra Observatory). Lives in Sant Cugat (which is where the hdp on the weekends). There are spreading it because they should know that they will be able to go across the street from now on !!!!”.
you do Not see insults
The court considers that this tweet does not constitute a crime of defamation, because the expression ‘son of a bitch’ in the present society “is not considered as serious and even libelous if not accompanied by other expressions vexatious or demeaning”.
he Adds that Llarena has not been appearing in the cause or has filed no civil action for infringement of the right to honor, so that there is a lack of intent on the person who issued the tweet of injuring their honour and dignity.
with Respect to the offense of threats, the court considers that it has not been produced because the content of the message does not evokes the message “have a purpose of causing evil to Llarena and his family”, since they did not know and lived far away.
Also unlink this tweet of the paintings that were made in the house of Llarena in Das, in the Catalan Pyrenees, because the woman does not have any link with Arran, the organization that claimed responsibility for the action.
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