A SCOT living in Catalonia has protested his innocence after being sentenced to more than five years in prison for his alleged participation in a protest.
William Aitken, 32, insists he was merely documenting a protest in 2021, demanding the release of jailed rapper Pablo Hasel (below), who was locked up over lyrics criticising the Spanish crown and allegedly glorifying terrorism.
Speaking to The National from Barcelona’s Plaça dels Àngels, the call centre worker, originally from Lanark, vowed to fight Spain’s “backwards” legal system and insisted he was not guilty of the charges.
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Spanish authorities maintain Aitken threw a rock at a police car in Passeig de Gràcia – one of the city’s main thoroughfares – and allege he broke a kerb with his skateboard during the protest on February 17 last year.
He was only present at the protest for “less than 10 minutes” before being arrested, Aitken said.
He said they have “no evidence” to support this and said his legal team would challenge the sentence in Catalonia’s High Court of Justice.
If this fails, they also have the option of an appeal to the Spanish Supreme Court in Madrid.
We previously reported how Aitken was caged for a fortnight without charge.
He has since been released on bail and has been forced to hand over his passport because he is deemed a flight risk.
His bail conditions also stipulate that he must sign on regularly to prove that he remains in the country.
Responding to the sentence today, Aitken, accompanied by his lawyer David Aranda and around “30 or 40” of his friends and supporters, held a meeting and press conference outside the Barcelona Museum of Contemporary Art.
William Aitken, a Scot living in Barcelona who has been sentenced to five years in Spanish prison for his alleged involvement in a protest last year, held a press conference this morning, protesting his innocence and vowing to try overturn the sentence pic.twitter.com/eoQHe58Yca
— Hamish Morrison (@HMorrison97) June 22, 2022
He told The National: “I am hopeful the situation will be resolved but it is going to take a little bit of time.
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“The sentence is completely unfair for the crimes that I have been accused of, it’s ridiculous, it’s crazy.
“It’s crazy to say that a skateboard could be used to break a kerb to create ammunition to be thrown.”
Aitken’s lawyers now have 10 days to launch an appeal and take the ruling, made on Tuesday, to the highest court in the region of Catalonia.
“I believe that I have the correct legal team and the correct procedures in place to fight this,” he added.
“I believe that the justice system here is extremely backwards in a sense but we do have the correct team to go ahead with an appeal.
“It’s been a huge, dark cloud floating over me. Of course, nobody’s experienced in situations like this, so it’s been messing with my emotions and my mental health, it’s affecting my friends, my family, and everyone around me.”
Aitken moved to Barcelona nearly six years ago and has built a life for himself in the Catalan capital, where he lives in the San Antoni district with his partner.
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Aranda, of the legal firm Arrels Advocats, vowed to fight the sentence, which he called “completely disproportionate”.
The sentence comes against a backdrop of political repression in Catalonia following the imprisonment of pro-independence political leaders who held what the Spanish state deemed an “illegal” referendum on secession.
Hasel’s supporters also maintain his imprisonment was an attack on his freedom of speech rights and the Council of Europe expressed concern over the status of freedom of expression in Spain.
He was ordered to "voluntarily" turn himself in to serve a nine-month sentence for insulting the crown and allegedly glorifying banned groups and terrorist organisations.
He refused, resulting in his arrest which sparked waves of protests across Spain, many of which turned violent.
The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) has the ability to assist Britons arrested overseas. It told The National last year that it was “assisting” Aitken and had been in contact with the Spanish authorities.
The FCDO was approached for further comment.
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