• Courts: The Prosecutor General's Office asks that discrimination because of being from a Spanish region is an aggravating factor of hate crime

The proliferation of social networks and the possibility of creating false or anonymous profiles has led to an increase in the feeling of impunity when pouring insults, accusations, harassment or threats protected by privacy. However, some of these behaviors may be considered a crime and must therefore be prosecuted and investigated by the security forces and bodies, the Prosecutor's Office and the courts. In some of these open cases, the instructors find themselves with an often impassable wall that tends to shelve the investigations. It is about the difficulty to know who is behind a specific profile, since it does not appear with the real name, on social networks and the little or no collaboration of the companies that manage it to provide this information.

Therefore, the Barcelona Prosecutor's Office has requested a change in the legislation so that these companies based in Spain are obliged to provide the data of users investigated for the commission of a crime as long as there is a court order motivated by evidence . In addition, they ask that these companies can be sanctioned if they do not comply with this request. In this sense, they consider that they must follow the path of the telephone companies that are obliged to respond to the police request to request the identification of a user and who comply with judicial requests to avoid falling into disobedience.

From the Service against Hate and Discrimination crimes of the Barcelona Prosecutor's Office, which is coordinated by the prosecutor Miguel Ángel Aguilar, these changes in legislation are aimed at forcing these social network companies and thus being able to identify people who publish homophobic content or Islamophobes, among others. They note that there are other countries that have started to regulate this obligation with these internet companies such as Germany and that France is studying it. The main problem with these investigations is that some companies do not want to collaborate by remarking that they have the database in the United States and there the first amendment protects freedom of expression. However, from the Public Prosecutor's Office remember that these users are in our country and companies have their business here, so they request their collaboration and in case of not obtaining it, it can be sanctioned.

Last year the Prosecutor's Office against hate crimes received 39 complaints, most of them for alleged crimes committed by social networks or the internet based on comments with false or anonymous profiles, which makes it difficult to identify the perpetrators. From the Public Ministry it is pointed out that whoever commits these facts knows that they can achieve impunity and that is why they demand that companies can be forced to give their data, to avoid the files of the proceedings. They also indicate that very in-depth profiling is being carried out to demonstrate that there is a crime and that "by a tweet we just don't open proceedings."

Last year the prosecutor received 394 reports of possible hate crimes and discrimination in the province of Barcelona, ​​most of which were processed by the Mossos d'Esquadra. The figure represents an increase compared to 2018 when there were 366 crowded and, in comparison between years, crimes by discrimination based on sexual orientation have increased, by 59%, and those of racism or xenophobia by 43%. On the contrary, there is a drop of 26% in crimes of discrimination based on ideology, despite the fact that it is still the first reason for police reports since 2017. The Prosecutor's Office indicates that last year the majority of complaints were concentrated in October, when He learned about the Supreme Court ruling against the independence leaders and remarks that there are "less serious events" such as small damages or the removal of flags, accompanied by some more brutal acts of intolerance or aggression.

Regarding the increase in crimes due to racist discrimination and sexual orientation, the Office of the Prosecutor indicates that there is a submerged figure that is increasingly coming to light due to a greater sensitivity of the population and support from social entities. In addition, they indicate that more and more perpetrators of attacks of this type are identified by security cameras. Regarding judicial proceedings, last year 454 cases were opened and 81 were closed for not finding the person responsible for the crime. They also point out that 122 cases were withdrawn since not everything is a hate crime, it is necessary to know how to differentiate when the motivation to commit it is due to this discrimination. 107 cases of racism entered the courts last year, 93 for sexual orientation, when in 2018 there were 52, while there was a decrease in crimes for discriminating by ideology since in 2019 there were 127 and the previous year 162.

Last year they also registered 75 sentences for hate-related reasons, of which 81% were convictions, which represents an increase compared to 2018 when they were 74% convictions. The Prosecutor's Office points out the difficulties sometimes to prove the motivation for discrimination to commit a crime as well as that many victims are vulnerable and when they are from another country it is difficult for them to be in the entire procedure. That is why we always bet on the conformity that goes through the reparation of the victim with compensation for moral damages. In addition, convicts are also urged to take courses and workshops related to acceptance of diversity or prevention of behaviors to complement the prison sentence or fine imposed.

Among the proposals that the Prosecutor's Office recommends is that aporophobia or age be considered as a reason for discrimination, since there are behaviors towards very vulnerable groups, such as the poor, among others, "that cannot go unpunished." It also calls for an equal treatment law that offers effective tools to protect discriminatory behaviors that do not imply a punishment in the Penal Code but that can have an administrative sanction since they are "reprehensible acts, which without the seriousness of the crime need a response", such as insults on the street or not renting apartments for being of a certain ethnic group. In addition, she urges a legislative reform so that suffering discrimination for the territorial origin of any place in Spain, for using official languages or physical appearance can be punished.

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  • Homophobia
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