The Alcoi court that has investigated a far-right group for years has decided to open oral proceedings against five of its members for trying to form an alleged political party to spread hatred, violence and discrimination. The five accused will go to trial for hate crimes, in some cases in conjunction with public disorder, but not for the crime of illicit association for which they had been initially accused.
‘Operation Ario’ dismantled this far-right group in the first weeks of 2022 with several arrests in the Valencian Community but also in Madrid and Catalonia. An investigation that, in principle, persecuted the perpetrators of an arson attack on an LGTBI establishment in the city of Alicante and the dissemination of Nazi propaganda through a WhatsApp group, blogs and various profiles on the internet. The possession of weapons by one of them and the planning of monitoring left-wing politicians were also investigated.
The group, according to the investigation of the case, met in 2020 in a WhatsApp group called “NacionalDemocrata” in which, under the appearance of creating a far-right political party, in reality they had the purpose of “promoting hatred, violence and discrimination” against Jews, homosexuals or blacks. As well as planning violent acts that were never carried out. “Promote violent acts of a political nature, although there is no evidence that they carried out any of them,” the judge said in the indictment.
Now the court has taken the next step and has decreed the opening of an oral trial against them, which will be held in the Alicante Court. The crime of illicit association that was initially attributed to them is ruled out and the trial will focus on hate crimes in various forms, including “denial and trivialization of the Jewish genocide” as well as public disorder.
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