A BELGIAN court has rejected Spain’s request to extradite Mallorcan-born rapper Valtònyc who had been sentenced to more than three years in jail for song lyrics, which Spanish authorities claimed glorified terrorism and slandered the Spanish crown.
However, speaking outside the court in Ghent, Valtònyc said he would continue his plans to take the case to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR): “We have come to win it all, we will go to the ECHR to set a precedent.”
The rapper moved to Belgium in May to avoid the prison term and was earlier granted provisional freedom when a court in Belgium dismissed Spain’s claim for his automatic extradition.
“I am very happy for being free and not extradited, but at the same time I am very sad at the colleagues in Spain who are not free and who have no fair trial or justice,” he told journalists.
“It is very sad that we have to leave home to find justice and be free.”
Gonzalo Boye, one of his legal team, said Spain should begin “applying European and democratic standards” if they wanted to avoid facing embarrassing situations like that in Ghent.
“Reducing sentences is not enough, we need these not to be crimes, because we are talking about freedom of speech cases,” he said.
Catalan President Quim Torra welcomed the ruling on Twitter: “Once again, those that go outside of Spain to find justice, found it.” His vice-president, Pere Aragonès, added: “European justice has rectified the Spanish justice again. Freedom of expression is protected in Europe.”
Deposed Catalan president Carles Puigdemont, in exile in Belgium, tweeted: “Europe is a space of freedom where abuses by member states become unacceptable.”
Catalan Parliament Speaker, Roger Torrent, said: “The repression by the Spanish state is incompatible with democratic rights and freedoms. At the end, even from abroad, democracy always prevails.”
Barcelona Mayor Ada Colau added: “The Spanish judiciary should assess what is happening before their discredit becomes irreparable.”
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