Manuel Marraco Madrid
Madrid
Updated Friday, January 19, 2024-15:31
The Prosecutor's Office of the Supreme Court has agreed to investigate the PSOE's complaint against Vox and its president,
Santiago Abascal
, for his "clear direct incitement to hatred and discrimination" in the interview with the Argentine newspaper
Clarín
in which he said that "there will be a moment" in which the people will want to "hang by the feet" the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez.
The complaint raised the commission of crimes of insult and slander against high-ranking organizations of the nation, as well as a hate crime.
"At first glance they cannot be ruled out in this case," states the decree opening investigation proceedings signed by the lieutenant prosecutor of the Supreme Court, María Ángeles Sánchez Conde.
Regarding hate crime, the decree recalls the jurisprudence of the Supreme Court, which is "very restrictive when considering politicians" as victims, since it is designed to protect "social minorities."
Abascal is a deputy, so he enjoys inviolability in the exercise of his functions and it will be necessary to verify whether when he gave the interview "said inviolability exists or not."
He specifies that the Constitutional Court has interpreted in a broad sense when a deputy, even if he is not intervening in the Cortes, enjoys that protection.
The Prosecutor's Office connects the interview with the "moment and political context in which it occurred, a moment of serious political unrest, in which certain associations and groups of people with an ideology similar to the accused or organizations of which it is stated, without there being the due record, which constitute Vox's youth brand, like Revuelta, have promoted a multitude of violent incidents against the headquarters of the complaining political party."
And remember that Abascal has attended the rallies in front of the PSOE headquarters and that, "through social networks, he has asked the police forces not to obey his commands."
In addition to clearing up doubts about its inviolability, the lieutenant prosecutor indicates that it will be necessary to examine whether the words fit into the right to freedom of expression, "which enjoys very wide spaces in political criticism," and whether the facts would be criminal. in Argentina.
When it has concluded its investigation, the Supreme Court Prosecutor's Office must decide whether to take the matter to the Criminal Chamber of the High Court because there are indications of a crime or whether to file the proceedings.