AUTHORITIES in Spain have issued arrest warrants for a Spanish rapper who was sentenced to jail for lyrics that praised terror groups and insulted the country’s royal family.
A prosecutor’s statement said that Jose Miguel Arenas Beltran, a 24-year-old rap singer from Palma de Mallorca – who is best known as Valtonyc – was being sought. He was supposed to turn himself in voluntarily to serve a two-year sentence, said the statement, adding that Spanish, European and international arrest warrants had all been issued in his name.
Lower courts had ruled that he distributed songs online that praised terrorism, insulted Spanish royals and threatened a Spanish politician with violence.
In February, Spain’s Supreme Court rejected Beltran’s argument that he was expressing his right to free speech and that rap songs aimed to be provocative.
Valtonyc’s case has become a cause celebre in Spain among organisations who claimed Spanish authorities are cracking down on rights to free speech.
One of them, the Platform for Freedom of Information, said the rulings were “a clear violation of fundamental rights and fly in the face of international principles on freedom of expression which Spain has signed up to”.
Beltran had announced he would be disobeying the summons.
“Tomorrow they will knock down the door to my house to put me in prison. For a few songs,” the rapper wrote in a tweet on Wednesday.
“I’m not going to make it so easy. Disobeying is legitimate and a must before this fascist state,” he said, adding that Spain was “once again making a fool of itself”.
The parliamentary spokesman for the pro-business Citizens party, tweeted: “Brave when breaking the law, cowardly when it’s time to accept the consequences.”
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