Spanish justice suffered a another knock-back on Wednesday after a Belgian court decided to allow Mallorcan rapper Valtònyc to go free until the resolution of the European arrest warrant issued for him by Spain. The rapper, who fled Spain in May to avoid entering prison for lyrics that were judged to constitute criminal offences, was allowed by the court to remain at large provisionally and now awaits a final extradition hearing, a situation very similar to that experienced in recent months by the Catalan pro-independence ministers who also exiled themselves to Belgium.
The judge considered there was "no need to put [Valtonyc] in police custody" - these were the words of lawyer Simon Beakert in a tweet when the outcome of Wednesday's hearing was announced.
Another day, another case. This morning #Valtònyc presented himself for the Belgian judge of instruction due to EU arrest-warrant Spain issued. Judge ruled no need to put him in police custody. Another judge will rule over the extradition later. Meanwhile free on Belgian soil.
— Simon Bekaert (@Simonbekaert) 5 of July 2018
In fact, Valtònyc's own lawyer, Gonzalo Boye, also anticipated a good result in an initial ambiguous tweet on the subject:
Se ha quedado un gran día en Gant... y ahí lo dejo
— Gonzalo Boye (@boye_g) 5 of July 2018
Translation: It's turned out to be a great day in Ghent.. and I'll leave it there
The rapper himself also declared his satisfaction on Twitter saying that "today is a great day" and adding a touch of humour with reference to the football World Cup:
Hoy es un gran día.
— Josep Valtònyc(@valtonyc) 5 of July 2018
España ya no juega en el mundial pero yo sigo en cuartos de final.
Rueda de prensa en Bruselas hoy a las 17h comentando el partido y las jugadas clave.
Roncero no llores. pic.twitter.com/P5ptiNbn0F
Translation: Today is a great day. Spain is out of the World Cup but I'm still in the quarter finals. Press conference in Brussels at 5pm commenting on the match and the key plays. Roncero, don't cry.— Josep Valtònyc
The reference to "Roncero" is a wink to a well-known conservative Spanish TV sports presenter.
Valytònyc, whose real name is Josep Miquel Arenas Beltrán, left Mallorca in late May to avoid having to enter prison to serve a three and a half year sentence for lyrics that were deemed to be insulting to the Spanish monarchy, a glorification of terrorism and, in one case, making a specific threat against a person. Spanish justice has had no success up till now in any of the political extraditions that it has attempted to enforce in the last few months.