“The king has an appointment in the town square, a rope around his neck and the weight of the law falls on him.” “What legitimacy does Franco’s heir have, that in sprees and whores our pasta (silver) is throwing away?”.
These phrases, and others of the same type, meant condemnations in Spain for those who pronounced them in their songs: the rappers José Miguel Arenas —Valtònyc— and Pablo Rivadulla —Pablo Hasél— respectively. The first fled to Belgium and the second entered prison in February 2021.
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The article of the Penal Code that was applied to them, which typifies slander against the Crown, began the path to disappear last week when the Congress of Deputies approved a bill that seeks to eliminate it.
The pro-independence parties Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya (ERC) and Euskal Herria Bildu had promoted it, but it had not gone ahead because they needed the support of majority groups in the Congress of Deputies. On September 29, the Spanish Socialist Workers Party (PSOE) supported them and, thanks to this, the proposal continues its process, which will end in the elimination of some articles of the Penal Code.
490.3 stands out, which establishes the following: “whoever slanders or insults the king or queen or any of their ascendants or descendants (…) will be punished with a prison sentence of six months to two years if the slander or insult is serious, and with a fine of six to twelve months if they are not”.
491.2 punishes the use of images that may damage the prestige of the Crown. In addition, article 543 imposes fines of seven to twelve months for verbal, written or de facto offenses or outrages against Spain, its autonomous communities (departments) or emblems.
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Slandering the king carries a sentence of six months to two years in prison.
freedom of expression
The center of the debate lies in the limitation of freedom of expression. In fact, the European Court of Human Rights has ruled on this on several occasions. In 2011, he condemned Spain for imposing a year in prison on the politician Arnaldo Otegi, who had referred to the then King Juan Carlos I as the “maximum chief of the Spanish Army, responsible for the torturers.”
In 2018, the Court again condemned the country for having threatened jail and imposed a fine on two protesters who burned a photo of the monarch. The European organization considered that the act constituted a “political criticism”.
Since then, according to the State Attorney General’s Office, “there has been a drastic reduction in this type of procedure.” In 2021 he opened twelve investigations for insults to the Crown, which he ended up closing on the grounds that they were political criticism.
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known cases
However, many known cases have prospered in recent times. The last one brought rapper Pablo Hasél to jail, which produced massive mobilizations and protests in the country in February 2021. In fact, after serving a year in prison there were also several demonstrations calling for his freedom.
He has refused the prison treatment program that would reduce his time behind bars because, he says, what this tool seeks is repentance, “the goal of repression.”
Some of the trills and phrases of songs that were considered criminal are the following: “The parasites of the Bourbons continue to hang out with the beheaders of homosexuals”, “The king’s shit gangster giving lessons from a palace”, “Civil Guard torturing or shooting emigrants” and “Death penalty now for pathetic infantas for spending our money on aesthetic operations”.
![Protests in Spain for the arrest of Pablo Hasél](https://www.eltiempo.com/images/1x1.png)
Protesters supporting Pablo Hasél have taken to the streets in recent days to demand the rapper’s release.
Before him, the National Court had already sentenced rapper Valtónyc to three and a half years in prison in 2017. He fled in 2018 and began a legal battle from Belgium. That country has refused to hand him over to Spain, which asks for his extradition, on two occasions.
Some of Valtónyc’s controversial phrases are “Sofia on a coin, but shot”; “Fucking police, fucking monarchy”; and “This is not about partying, what were you thinking, silly? It’s a time bomb in a bullring.”
In November 2007, the National Court imposed a fine of three thousand euros on the two authors of a caricature that appeared on the cover of the satirical magazine Jueves, in which the then princes of Asturias appeared having sexual relations. When the publication went on the market, a judge ordered the sequestration of the number, which sparked a virulent public debate.
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The initiative that has just been accepted aims to legitimize the insult
A more recent controversy was also sparked by the accusation of the comedian Dani Mateo for blowing his nose on a television program with a Spanish flag. In a 2018 performance he pretended to sneeze and grabbed a flag next to him to clean himself.
The reform that has now been accepted will eliminate these judicial situations that usually raise the spirits of society. It is not, however, a measure that has the support of a large majority. In fact, the Congress was divided between the nationalist groups and the left, on the one hand, and the Popular Party (PP), Ciudadanos and Vox, on the other. The PP aspired not to create important changes in the law, Ciudadanos proposed reducing prison sentences to fines and Vox wanted to toughen the penalties.
According to Edmundo Bal, spokesman for Ciudadanos, the initiative that has just been accepted aims to “legitimize the insult” and give the independentists “impunity in the face of their campaign to demolish the symbols of Spain.”
Enrique Santiago, of United We Can, did not agree. “This is not about symbols and institutions, it’s about rights and freedoms,” he said.
JUANITA SAMPER OSPINA
WEATHER CORRESPONDENT
MADRID
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