He didn't get where he is today without being able to write a biting lyric or two. And Mallorcan rapper Valtònyc, in Belgian exile since 2018, has shown his waggish sense of humour again in response to a new Spanish attempt to extradite him - this time on the basis of alleged death threats in the lyrics to one of his songs. Valtònyc responded ironically to this new move, which is in its initial phase, but has come within earshot.
"For terrorism, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) said 'no', for insults to the crown, the Belgian Constitution said 'not that either' and now they are attempting extradition for death threats. In the end they'll run out of crimes and will end up finally wanting to extradite me for singing badly, you’ll see,” he joked. The rapper attached a photograph of him strolling with another of the exiles in Belgium, Catalan politician Lluís Puig.
Meanwhile, the Ghent Court of Appeal is one step away from ruling that the rapper Valtònyc - real name Josep Miquel Arenas - will not be extradited. Yesterday he appeared at a court hearing to assess his situation and determine - again - whether he would be handed over to Spanish justice. The court has already set a date for the decision: December 28th, celebrated in Spain as the Day of the Innocent Saints, when people play practical jokes on each other. Valtònyc's lawyer is optimistic and the signs point to the rapper not being extradited. In any case, the decision could still be appealed in the last resort.
Minutes after today's hearing, Valtònyc and his lawyer Simon Bekaert appeared publicly to explain that they had requested that, in the event that he is handed over to Spain for the crime of death threats, he be allowed to serve his sentence in Belgium. "I would prefer to stay here in Belgium because the Spanish state has been convicted for torture in prisons. For safety reasons, I would prefer to stay here," the rapper said to the media. His lawyer is confident that the judges will reject the extradition to Spain, which seeks his handover in order for him to serve a sentence of three and a half years in prison for the lyrics of his songs. The defence says the extradition will not be accepted for two of the crimes for which he was convicted in Spain, glorification of terrorism and insults to the crown and believes the 'death threat' lyric will not be admitted either. However, his lawyers have asked the court to allow Valtònyc to serve his sentence in Belgium in the event that his handover eventuates.
For more than three years, Spain has been asking Belgium to allow the extradition of Valtònyc, who was sentenced in a Spanish court to be jailed in relation to the lyrics of several songs. Belgian justice has so far been reluctant to extradite him and has been looking at the case very closely. Initially, a court of first instance rejected the European Arrest Warrant against the young Mallorcan in September 2018, and since then it is the Ghent Court of Appeal which has been handling the extradition request. First, that court asked the European Court of Justice if an 'express' extradition was possible for the crime of glorification of terrorism, as requested by the Spanish authorities. The Luxembourg court said 'no' and therefore Belgian justice had to use the ordinary route for extradition, which requires double criminality: that is, any Spanish crime for which the extradition is sought must also be an offence under Belgian law.
With the Belgian Constitutional Court having ruled in favour of the exiled Spanish citizen - by removing the crime of insulting royalty from its penal code in an historic decision - and the European Court of Justice deciding that the request for extradition on the terrorism offence was invalid; it is now the Ghent Court that must decide on whether to extradite him to Spain, as demanded by the Spanish judiciary. Or not.