The Spanish Socialist party (PSOE) has laid a complaint to public prosecutors over the beating of a large effigy with the face of Pedro Sánchez that occurred on New Year's Eve during the protests outside the PSOE headquarters in Madrid's Calle Ferraz. In the 59-page document, the Socialists assert that, among other offences, crimes of slander, threats, incitement to hatred and crimes against honour could have been committed.
The PSOE maintains that these actions exceed the bounds of valid political criticism and make the party, and specifically Pedro Sánchez, into "the target of a glorification of behaviours with associations of violence, hatred, hostility and discrimination" which "incite illegitimate attitudes" and put at risk "however abstract, their own safety and personal integrity". According to the PSOE, these are attitudes with a "clear threatening attitude" and which "cannot be protected by freedom of expression".
A "lynching" with "joy and anticipation"
Over the course of 20 pages, the text presented to the prosecution service recounts the protests on Calle Ferraz on New Year's Eve, through a detailed description with photos and details of the sequence of events. The Socialists explain that, in a rally of about 300 people, featuring Francoist flags and chants, a large figure symbolizing Pedro Sánchez was violently beaten and presented "as a dictator", by associating him with Nazi Germany through an armband, altered to show the initials of the PSOE. The perpetrators used "objects or directly punches and kicks" which were "acclaimed by the others and filmed by those present". It was, they indicate, an "authentic lynching" with "joy and anticipation" until the effigy was "completely destroyed", a moment of "great joy" on the part of those present.
For the PSOE, the beating of the Sánchez figure was the "last straw" of the "flogging" to which the PSOE headquarters had been subjected in recent weeks. In addition, the Socialists also recall the statements of Santiago Abascal, warning Sánchez that "there will be a moment when the people will want to hang him by his feet", and they warn that there has been a transition "from the seriousness of the metaphor" to "the seriousness of simulating actions" - from "threats of the spoken word to threats with actions".
The document also speaks of the promoters of the protests: Revuelta and Noviembre Nacional, two platforms that “are not legally constituted associations or foundations”. The PSOE also names Plataforma 711 and Asoma as "entities that do enjoy legal formulas".
Slander, threats, hate crimes and incitement to violence
After reviewing the events that took place in Calle Ferraz, the PSOE details the offences that could have been committed during the protests. It refers to the crime of slander against an authority figure in the exercise of their duties (Articles 205 and 208 of the Penal Code), to the crime of serious insults and threats against the Spanish government (Article 504.1), to threats to Pedro Sánchez as an individual (Article 169.2) and against the PSOE and Socialist party members as a social collective (Article 170.1), to the incitement of violence against the Spanish prime minister and the collective that the PSOE represents (Article 18.1) and to crimes of hatred (Article 510).
Likewise, the text argues that the actions could represent incitement to hatred against the PSOE, Pedro Sánchez and its ideology and could be defined as a crime of unlawful assembly or demonstration (Article 513). It asserts that all these alleged offences were committed "with absolute seriousness given that they were fully publicised, since they were broadcast by various channels through the Internet".
The PSOE also asserts that the expressions used and the actions carried out represent an "illegitimate attack on [its] honour" with language and actions that are "absolutely insulting and vexatious" and involve "the public vilification of a group". The reported conduct is a "clear example" of "discriminatory motivation", the text states.
The PSOE names Vox as "the common link" in the actions
As well, the Socialists maintain that discourses that generate hatred and discrimination "have no protection or cover" under constitutional rights of freedom of expression and ideology. Although these freedoms protect the expression of ideas that are "repulsive and irritating to some people", the PSOE argues that they "cannot cover contempt and slander" or the staging of "violent or intimidating acts that generate feelings of hostility against them”.
At the end of its text, the PSOE asserts that the actions that have been taking place in recent weeks and that "led" to the New Year's events "seem to have a common link" through the far-right Vox party and asks that these connections be investigated to determine possible criminal liability.