Spain's National Audience court has issued an arrest warrant for the rapper Pablo Hasél this Monday evening. Now that it has been issued, any police officer or unit that detects him has an obligation to arrest him. However, it has been publicly announced that the rapper is barricaded inside the rectory at the University of Lleida. And, therefore, it is the Mossos d'Esquadra who will have to arrest Hasél, because it falls within the competencies of the Catalan police force.
There has been no release of information from the police operation assigned to the task. The force is completely silent, but sources close to the operation have confirmed to ElNacional.cat that they are already working on the arrest of Hasél. There is high secrecy so that the moment of arrest is not leaked, but it is imminent.
At this Monday afternoon's press conference, the Catalan interior minister, Miquel Sàmper, did not want to give details. In fact, he said that he had just learned that Hasél was locked in the rectory of the University of Lleida and that relevant information on the case would be provided when they had all the data.
Just today, the National Audience rejected an appeal for his entry into prison to be suspended, after the musician was convicted for offences of glorifying terrorism and insulting the monarchy.
In its ruling interlocutory, the court analyzes the possible conditions for suspending admission to prison, one of which is if the person has no previous convictions. With regard to this, the court ruling notes: "The first requirement is clearly not met by Hasél".
The judges notes that the sentence already took into account the aggravating factor of it being a repeat offence, as Hasel had previously been sentenced to two years in prison, also for glorfying terrorism: in this previous case, the court did suspend the rapper's entry into prison.
In addition, the court emphasizes that his actions "do not denote the intention of the prisoner to repair, at least morally, the damage caused, but, on the contrary, he persists in his antisocial attitude," and recalls that he was also convicted of disobeying police officers and for breaking into a building.
“With this criminal history, it would be absolutely discriminatory with respect to other offenders, and also a serious individual exception in law enforcement, totally lacking in justification” to suspend Hasél’s entry into prison, ruled the judges.
On Sunday, the public prosecutors opposed the suspension of Hasél's imprisonment, after the deadline passed for him to enter prison voluntarily last Friday.
Hasél, barricaded in
From this Monday, the rapper has shut himself in "indefinitely" in the university rectory in his hometown of Lleida, in an effort to prevent his arrest: "It's to make it as difficult as possible for the police," he said, explaining that he is barricaded in, protected by locks and chains. "We want to make as much noise as possible about a serious attack on our liberties which affects us collectively."
"It is scandalous," said Hasél, "that the prosecutors opposed my imprisonment, but since Sunday's election they have changed their mind.
Hasél explained that he chose this emblematic building in the western Catalan city because it is "spacious" and because some of the people who have decided to show solidarity and lock themselves in with him are students at the centre.