LLEIDA, Spain (AP) – A rapper in Spain and dozens of supporters locked themselves in a university building on Monday in the artist’s latest attempt to avoid jail time for insulting the country’s monarchy and praising terrorism.
The case of Pablo Hasél (32) has attracted increasing attention in Spain and is linked to the sudden announcement by the government to change a national law that is deemed to restrict freedom of expression. More than 200 artists, including director Pedro Almodóvar and actor Javier Bardem, signed a petition last week in support of the rapper.
The artist, whose real name is Pablo Rivadulla Duró, is due to serve a reduced sentence of nine months in prison from 2018 for tweets and songs he posted between 2014 and 2016, in which he criticizes the Spanish royal family and a Spanish left-winger extremist group that has now disappeared praises. .
“I will not let them tell me what to think, feel or say,” Hasél told The Associated Press late Monday. “It’s an extra stimulus for me to write the same songs.”
He is best known for his often radical criticism of the institution, and has previously pleaded guilty to assault and praising armed extremist groups, although he did not serve any time behind bars after a previous two-year prison sentence was suspended.
This time, his captivity seemed imminent. The country’s national court on Monday issued an order for his arrest after a period of ten days that he was able to enter the prison voluntarily expired on Friday.
But the artist said he would not go without showing resistance and drawing attention to his case. Hasél was accompanied by about 50 supporters in the rector’s building of the University of Lleida in north-eastern Catalonia.
The police need special permission – granted in this case – from academic authorities to enter university buildings, which was the scene in the past.
Challengingly, the rapper tweeted: “They will have to break in to take me and put me in jail.”
He told the AP that Monday’s events were a call to organize our solidarity and take out the pressure in the streets. ‘
“There is a lot of solidarity from people who understand that this is not just an attack on me,” Hasél added. ‘But also against our fundamental democratic freedoms. Freedoms that are continuously suppressed by the State. If we face aggression, we need to give a collective answer. ‘
The left-wing coalition government of Spain unexpectedly announced last week that it would change the country’s criminal legislation to eliminate imprisonment for offenses involving freedom of expression. No specific mention was made of Hasél or a timetable for the changes.
The proposal is rejected by the conservative opposition Popular Party and the far-right Vox party.
Changes to the code under a new law on public safety, known as the “Gag Law”, were introduced in 2015 by the then Popular Party government and have long been coined by human rights groups and international organizations to curb freedom of expression in the name restrict. of the protection of state and religious institutions.
“The imprisonment of Pablo Hasél leaves the sword hanging over the heads of all public figures who dare to openly criticize the actions of state institutions,” reads the petition of the artists.
“We are aware that if we allow Pablo to be sent to jail, they could get behind one of us tomorrow, until they manage to silence any sigh of disagreement,” he said.
The Spanish branch of Amnesty International also defended Hasél and called on the government to introduce legislative amendments. In a statement last week, the international legal campaign showed other social media users, journalists and artists who have also been convicted in the past.
“Statements that do not clearly and directly incite violence cannot be criminalized,” AI branch chief Esteban Beltrán said.
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Ciarán Giles and Aritz Parra in Madrid also contributed.