The judge Carlos Valle This Friday rejected the appeal Pablo EchéniqueThe former Podemos MP will therefore have to testify next Tuesday for his comments on the prieststo whom he responded for their criticism of the illegal immigration. Echenique was denounced by Christian Lawyers after launching an attack on priests for which he could have incurred a fine. hate crime.
Pablo Echenique said on May 10 that “it is much more likely that a priest will commit a crime of sexual assault against minors committed by a migrant person”, therefore “from the point of view of citizen safetyIt would be more effective to expel the priests than to toughen the immigration policy” This is what he indicated in writing on his profile on the social network X in response to the statements of Jesus SanzArchbishop of Oviedo, who criticized, regarding the illegal immigration in Spain, that “in this bonist opening, unwanted people can slip in.”
The former Podemos MP filed an appeal against the opening of preliminary proceedings, which was rejected by the Madrid Court of Instruction number 38. “This is not, as the applicant claims, a debate on abuses within the catholic church“but whether or not the expressions expressed by the accused appear to constitute a hate crime,” the magistrate explains in the order in which he rejects Echenique’s allegations.
Furthermore, the judge indicates that Echenique “intends the opposite of proceeding to a adequate instruction“That is to say, “trying to protect the expressions denounced under the title of freedom of expression when it is true that despite this undeniable freedom of expression, there exists infringement of legal rights criminally protectedwhich are carried out through the media, social networks, etc.,” the document details.
In fact, Carlos Valle emphasizes in the order that “the opening of a preliminary procedure does not prejudge anything, but rather represents the beginning of the investigation of a case whose purpose may be not only the arrest of the accused, but also, obviously, the archiving and dismissal of the procedure. Thus, it determines that said previous procedures “aim to clarify the real scope From what has been reported, it seems indisputable that at first sight “This could take on the character of a hate crime.”
For its part, Echenique’s entourage, in its defense, links the message of the former Podemos MP to the report presented by the Ombudsman, Angel Gabilondoon sexual abuse in the Church. To this justification, they add that the words of the Archbishop of Oviedo were “openly xenophobic“.
