22/06/2021
FSG. Dpto. Igualdad y Lucha contra la discriminación
The trial of M.A.S.L., a resident of Ourense who was identified as the alleged author of a series of messages posted on the internet forum Burbuja.info under the pseudonym “Los_Liadora” inciting hatred and discrimination against the Roma community, has been in Criminal Court No. 1 of Ourense.
Fundación Secretariado Gitano (FSG) was the entity that identified and tipped off the National Police and the Public Prosecutor's Office of a total of six messages of extreme antigypsyism hatred published in various threads on the forum Burbuja.info, in which the user referred to the Roma community as “scum” or “the height of subhuman” and called for the “extermination”, “killing” or “genocide” of the Roma. These actions constitute a crime under Article 510.1 of the Spanish Penal Code.
Thanks to the investigation spearheaded by FSG, which acted as a prosecutor in the proceedings, the alleged perpetrator was identified and subsequently brought to trial. The defendant's counsel based its defence on the existence of a series of mental illnesses. Nevertheless, the court's medical examiner determined that “both his intellectual and volitional capacity are within the normal range”, which means that his ability to understand what he is doing and to make decisions is not impaired.
Cristina de la Serna, Director of the Department of Equality and the Fight against Discrimination, from where she coordinates the actions of the entity in the face of antigypsyism incidents and crimes, signalled that she hopes that “the trial being held today will culminate in a conviction for a crime of hate speech and that a message will be sent to citizens and Internet users that antigypsyism hate messages are criminally prosecutable and will not go unpunished”. She also explained that this case has been considered as strategic litigation for the entity, since, “as we document year after year in our reports Discrimination and the Roma Community, cases like this one are not isolated; unfortunately, they are widespread on social networks or, even more so, on Internet forums such as Burbuja.info, where users dump this type of messaging with impunity, taking advantage of their anonymity and the lack of moderation on the part of the forums themselves”.
Fundación Secretariado Gitano also points out that these crimes cause serious harm to the Roma community: “These types of messages cause serious damage to the dignity and self-esteem of Roma people, causing feelings of anxiety, fear and being singled out. They also encourage discriminatory and hateful attitudes in the general population, which often results in other types of discriminatory incidents or even hateful aggressions directed against members of the Roma community”.
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