The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has declared inadmissible the appeal by the Catalan rapper Pablo Hasél against his conviction for glorifying terrorism and insulting the crown and state institutions. The Strasbourg-based court considered that the sentence of the Spanish courts and the prison sentence was not "disproportionate" and that the rapper's appeal "has no basis". This is detailed in the judgment published this Thursday. Spain's National Audience sentenced Hasél to two years in prison, but the appeals court reduced his sentence to nine months.
In his appeal, Hasél argued that the sentence against him violated his right to freedom of thought and conscience, freedom of expression, the right to reparation and that the use of his rights had been limited. However, the ECHR concluded that the trial court took all the facts into account to issue the sentence and "balanced the interests involved", including the right to freedom of expression. Therefore, Strasbourg does not consider that the rapper's freedom of expression was breached. This is where the rapper's appeal ends, as there is no higher authority to turn to.
Alejandra Matamoros, lawyer for Hasél, said in statements to Catalunya Ràdio: "Anything can await you from [the European court], it is true that we would have expected them to accept [our appeal] because it represents a change in doctrine, although these authoritarian turns are increasingly frequent". The lawyer regretted the court's position and stated: "Spain has always been Europe's leading pupil in terms of repression and it can be seen that Europe is veering in that direction".
The ECHR has ruled that the assessment of the Spanish judiciary was "reasonable and proportionate". The comments and songs for which the rapper was convicted were, in the view of the Human Rights court, "incitement to support terrorism". The court said that "these statements had been available to a wide audience and had had the capacity to lead to harmful consequences." On the other hand, Strasbourg notes that if Hasél had not had previous convictions, he would not have gone to prison for this conviction.
On the conviction appealed to the ECHR, the rapper was originally sentenced to two years of prison, reduced on appeal to nine months, for glorifying terrorism due to the content of the lyrics of his songs, and for slander of the king and state institutions. However, because of earlier convictions, also for his song lyrics and public statements, he was made to serve the sentence. His arrest in Lleida in February 2021, led to a wave of protest in Catalan cities, especially Barcelona. As a result of those protests, one young woman lost an eye to a police projectile, while other protesters were charged with rioting.