Gonzalo Boye has taken the lead of Valtonyc's defence. The rapper, who had been ordered to hand himself in to prison yesterday by a Spanish court, left into exile secretly a fortnight ago.
On Wednesday, he met a team of lawyers in Brussels who explained his possible defence strategy. The rapper decided to trust in Boye's strategy, who also heads the defence for two of the Catalan ministers in exile in Belgium.
Boye, in statements to El Nacional, said that he will present Valtonyc's case to the European Court of Human Rights within the next 10 days. The rapper's lawyer in Spain had already requested interim measures to avoid him having to go to prison until the case was resolved at the European level after he exhausted his appeals within Spain. Now, the defence offensive will intensify. They have 6 months to present the case to Strasbourg but will do so in less than two weeks.
The lawyer says that Valtonyc is "very calm, serene and very clear in his ideas" and that he's in a European country. According to Boye, this is because "the best way to help him is from the European institutions".
The case
Josep Miquel Arenas Beltrán, who performs as Valtonyc, was sentenced to three and a half years in prison by Spain's Supreme Court for his lyrics on charges of glorifying terrorism, humiliating victims, insulting king Juan Carlos I and threatening Jorge Campos of the right-wing political party Actúa Baleares.
This Thursday was his deadline to voluntarily present himself at prison. El Nacional revealed on Wednesday that he had left Spain instead and to work on defending freedom of speech from Europe.