The Supreme Court sentences four protesters who tried to prevent a Vox rally to almost five years in prison

The Supreme Court has sentenced four protesters against a Vox rally in Zaragoza on January 17, 2019 to four years and nine months in prison for aggravated crimes of public disorder and attack, as well as injuries to several police officers. against a rally of the far-right party led to clashes with the Police, who had cordoned off the area. The protesters tried to break the police cordon established to protect those attending the event, with the result that seven officers were injured, one of them seriously, who took a year to heal from his injuries.

The ruling of the Criminal Chamber of the Supreme Court declares proven that on the occasion of a rally called through social networks under the slogan “Against the fascist act of Vox”, on January 17, 2019, a large police force was established in anticipation of possible disturbances of public order in the vicinity of the Zaragoza Auditorium, where the ultra party was going to hold a rally. At around 6:45 p.m., a quarter of an hour before the start of the event, about 200 people, including the four accused, gathered in the vicinity and “under the shout of 'let's get to the Auditorium' they faced the protesters.” agents deployed”, causing the cutting of vehicle circulation.

The account of events continues to state that a barrier was established to prevent the protesters from reaching the Auditorium, “where the group uttered phrases directed at the agents such as 'dogs of the State' and 'hired killers' while at the same time giving them kicks, punches and pushes.” The protesters ended up gaining access to the interior of the university campus, although a group of about 80 people came out again, and “began to indiscriminately throw stones and paving stones that they ripped from the ground at the law enforcement forces and in which activity the four accused participated.” . The protest later led to the burning of containers.

The ruling describes that moments later a group of 40 protesters, among whom the accused followed, took cover behind a barricade from which they threw stones and cobblestones at the agents, pedestrians and vehicles. As a result, seven police officers suffered injuries of various degrees.

The Zaragoza Court sentenced the four defendants to six years in prison for crimes of public disorder and attack, and one of them to a fine of 480 euros for minor injuries to a police officer. The Superior Court of Justice of Aragon increased the sentence one year in prison for the four for aggravated injuries due to the use of dangerous means in the case of a police officer, and imposed fines for crimes of damage and minor injuries to the other agents. The Supreme Court, in turn, has reduced the seven-year prison sentence imposed on them by the Superior Court of Justice of Aragon, understanding that the aggravated crimes of public disorder and attack must be considered committed in ideal competition, so that establishes the expected penalty for the most serious crime (public disorder) in its upper half.

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