The Síndic de Greuges, the Ombudsman of Catalonia, Rafael Ribó, has urged the Catalan, Spanish and European authorities to intervene in the Hasél case, considering that “freedom of expression has no limits” and that, therefore, “It cannot be penalized with prison.” Ribó has traveled this morning to the Ponent prison to meet with the rapper.
Ribó has addressed the European Commissioner for Human Rights, Dunja Mijatovic, and the United Nations Rapporteur for the protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression, among other institutions. The President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, condemned this Friday the riots over Hasél’s imprisonment. “In a full democracy, the use of any type of violence is inadmissible, there is no exception. None, because violence is an attack on the freedoms of others ”, said Sánchez.
“Spanish democracy has a pending task, to expand freedom of expression,” he added.
Sánchez has participated in an event with the president of Extremadura, the socialist Guillermo Fernández Vara, who has spoiled Podemos’s attitude in the morning. “There is a party that tries to govern and another that tries not to have a government,” said Vara. In Congress, the Interior Minister, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, has condemned the “unjustifiable use of violence by a minority” and has recognized police work.
Jaume Asens, parliamentary spokesman for En Comú Podem, stressed today that “violence is not the way”. Thursday, the protests took place in several cities of the country, such as Barcelona, Tarragona and Valencia, with at least 16 detainees. Seven of those arrested in Barcelona have been provisionally released.