20/02/2025
FSG
On 24 February, the oral trial will be held in the Provincial Court of Madrid in the case of a man accused of anti-Roma hate speech after making extremely serious comments such as “To the gas chamber and make soap with them.”
Fundación Secretariado Gitano (FSG) will appear in court to prosecute the case, considering it to be “a textbook case of prejudice turning into violence”, in the words of the organization's director general, Sara Giménez. In the chain of events, she considers that “discriminatory patterns are perceived which, unfortunately, are still very frequent in Spain today”.
The case dates back to 2020, when a group of Roma were falsely accused of stealing a therapy dog named Pocahontas in Aranjuez. Two days later, the dog was due to be handed over to a girl with functional diversity in Malaga. Even after the falsity of the accusation was proven, online versions continued to be published insisting on the Roma authorship hypothesis.
The event received widespread media attention in Spain and prompted a wave of anti-Roma messages on social networks. Of particular gravity were the contents published on the Burbuja.info forum, a website that, in January 2025, received just over 3.5 million visits, according to the SimilarWeb platform. Several comments, widely cheered on by other users, openly advocated the murder of Roma. The most violent messages had been written from call shops or it was impossible to identify the author unequivocally, except in one case. The accusation was directed against this user after computer forensics identified the IP of his computer.
Fundación Secretariado Gitano has requested a prison sentence of two years and six months for this accused, plus a fine of ten months at a rate of 60 euros per day. ‘Anti-Roma hate messages cannot go unpunished,’ argues Sara Giménez. In the first place, because they ‘foster attitudes of discrimination against Roma.’ Furthermore, she warns, ‘they have an immediate impact on many Roma, causing feelings of anxiety, fear or stigmatization.’ In addition, ‘internet platforms and social networks also have to assume their responsibility: they cannot become spaces where hatred against certain groups is spread. This is established by numerous international conventions signed by Spain and by EU regulations themselves,’ recalls FSG’s director general. This creates a vicious circle that ‘makes victims distrust the justice system, leads to under-reporting and causes further impunity.’
In assessing this case, FSG considers that the response of the criminal justice system is necessary but not sufficient. It is an action of last resort that must be carried out while also combating anti-Roma prejudice.
Sara Giménez calls on the media in particular to ‘reflect on their special responsibility.’ When, in news items about events such as this case, a person's ethnic background is pointed out and emphasized, ‘this feature adds no informative value to the news and, instead, an entire community is being singled out.’
The ‘journalistic malpractice’ of some media is evident in the media's treatment of the alleged robbery. First, a highly emotional account is presented, and then members of the Roma ethnic group are pointed out as culprits, an accusation that is based on negative clichés and stereotypes widely spread among the population, which is used to make these accounts credible and, at the same time, reinforce prejudices.
“Everyone, but especially the media, must be more critical and not act as a megaphone for these prejudices,’ says Sara Giménez. ‘Every time these messages are sent out, the consequence is that there will be more Roma who are singled out, more Roma who are discriminated against, more Roma who are subjected to violence.’
This case is the result of the strategic litigation work carried out by ‘Fundación Secretariado Gitano,’ with which it seeks to establish jurisprudence and promote the application of the law in emblematic cases of discrimination and antigypsyism to generate positive changes in the enjoyment of rights by Roma. In the trial, FSG will be represented by Pastora Filigrana, a Roma lawyer with a long history of working in the defense of human rights.
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