FREE SPEECH: 10,800 EUROS

The left-wing mayor of Puerto Real, José Antonio Barroso, appears in the Spanish High Court today (Tuesday) to answer the charges that he called King Juan Carlos amongst other things corrupt.

He made the remarks at the 77 th anniversary of the Declaration of the Second Republic on April 14 2008 at a meeting in Los Barrios.

Now Barroso is a leading member in Cádiz province of the Izquierda Unida and a Republican - in my book he should be free to express his views.

Not so says the State prosecutor so he could be fined 10,800 euros.

The Spanish King and the Royal Family are largely popular but there are those who genuinely hold the view that Spain should be a Republic and that the king comes with a large amount of baggage.

During the meeting Barroso said of King Juan Carlos:

“El Borbón es el hijo de un crápula.”

“El Rey es de naturaleza corrupta porque lo es de condición, pero también los es en lo personal.”

“El Borbón de condición deleznable, el presente no es menos deleznable de lo que su padre fue.”
Basically that his father was a debaucher and the King is corrupt as was his father.

Now I am sure there are many people who hold similar views about the British Royal family yet they don’t end up in court by expressing them at a Republican meeting.

Had Barroso urged people to kill the king or members of the Royal family or threatened to do so himself he would have a case to answer.

But in a democracy we are all entitled to express our genuinely held views freely and without hindrance and if the king finds them objectionable then it is he and not the State prosecutor who should seek legal address.

That is what free speech is all about. We might not like what somebody says but we should defend his or her right to say it.

THE RIGHT TO FREEDOM OF SPEECH

As I write this the Izquierda Unida mayor of Puerto Real, José Antonio Barroso, is preparing to face a court charged with criticising the Spanish monarchy. The far-left firebrand says he has no regrets about the opinions he expressed about the Spanish monarch, Juan Carlos, and his father despite the possibility of being sentenced to jail.

The prosecutor has decided to take the matter to court because of what the mayor said in Los Barrios on April 14 at an event to commemorate the proclamation of the II Republic. During his speech the outspoken Barroso cast aspersions on the King and his father. He accused the monarch of being “corrupt” because of some of his business associations and said he was the “hijo de crápula”, accusing his father of being a libertine.

José Antonio Barroso insists that he spoke “under the umbrella of the constitutional right to free expression which all Spanish nationals are supposed to have” and that he was expressing his political convictions. However the judge in the Spanish High Court, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, on Monday refused to file the case saying that he considered the verbal attack on the King was “disproportionate” and beyond the bounds of free speech.

As a Briton I am free to criticise our Royal Family and I find it alarming that in a country where free speech is enshrined in the constitution the Spanish monarchy is placed outside of the law. I also believe that only a Spaniard is qualified to say whether King Juan Carlos and his family are a force for good or bad. As a foreign resident I would say “good” but as Barroso rightly argues, it should be the right of all Spanish nationals to voice their genuinely held views, be they political or otherwise, without fear of prosecution.

I wonder what King Juan Carlos makes of all this. At various conferences for journalists he has defended strongly the freedom of the press and the right to free speech. Surely the Spanish monarch does not believe that applies to all except him?

Whether what Barroso says about the King and his father is true or not – it is his personally held view and therefore in my book he has the perfect right to express it. Freedom of speech is after all a basic human right recognised and defended by the United Nations.

I think it was Voltaire who said – “I may not agree with what you say, but I will fight to the death for your right to say it.” Let’s hope the prosecutor and the judge take note.