The Barcelona Court has acquitted the comedian Jair Domínguez of the request for two years in prison that Vox had made for a comment made on Catalunya Ràdio after the Catalan elections of February 14, 2021. The third section of the court concludes that those words are covered by freedom of expression and do not constitute a hate crime.
The resolution sets the main tension of the case between the scope of the message and its actual effect. Vox maintained that there was incitement to violence on a program with 476,000 listeners and in a turbulent electoral context, but the ruling dismisses that the comment had the capacity to provoke violent reactions or a real danger against the party.
The Court dismisses that the comment posed a real danger
The ruling states that Domínguez was participating in an entertainment program, making reflections in a sarcastic tone and was protected by freedom of expression. The court adds that, regardless of the opinion the comment may generate, the comedian cannot be attributed with a hate crime.
"The suitability of the message to provoke violent reactions against the political party Vox cannot be asserted, it is not a repeated conduct, but a specific fact, it does not entail the externalization of an idea or an opinion that implies a real danger" - Barcelona Court
The ruling adds that the potentiality required by jurisprudence to fit the facts into that crime does not concur. It also emphasizes that it was not a repeated conduct, but a specific episode on air.
During the trial held in April, the Prosecutor's Office had already requested acquittal. The public ministry argued that it was a satirical comment and recalled that European justice recognizes exaggeration and provocation within journalistic freedom when scrutinizing political parties.
The Mossos did not detect facts attributable to the message in the following days
Another of the elements that supported the acquittal was the report from the Mossos d'Esquadra incorporated into the case. That document concluded that no relevant facts attributable to the comedian's words were recorded in the days following the broadcast.
Domínguez had uttered two phrases that centered the accusation. On Els Matins of Catalunya Ràdio he said that "fascism, Nazis, are fought with a punch in the mouth" and also affirmed that "the most estate-dwelling people of Alt Empordà vote for Vox. The result of the estate-dwelling Catalonia is neo-Nazi, who could have imagined it".
In the hearing, the comedian denied that he intended to incite violence. His defense was that the expression had a metaphorical meaning against fascism and Nazism, and not against specific people.
The broadcast occurred two days after the Catalan elections of February 14, 2021, in which Vox obtained 11 deputies in the Parliament, a fact that the prosecution placed within a particularly tense political climate.