Spanish Priest Acquitted After Televised Comments About Islam

…  Despite Fake News to the contrary 

The Provincial Court of Málaga has acquitted Rev Custodio Ballester of the Archdiocese of Barcelona and Rev Jesús Calvo of the Diocese of León, as well as journalist Armando Robles, of charges of incitement to hatred.

The judges found that, while some of their public statements were offensive or inappropriate, they did not meet the legal threshold for a hate crime. Criminal law should not be misused to punish false or unpleasant political opinions, as long as these do not specifically incite violence or hostility, the judges emphasized.

The ruling can still be appealed before the High Court of Justice of Andalusia.

The charges stem from a 2017 broadcast on the show La Ratonera (The Mouse Trap), produced by Alerta Digital, about radical Islam in Catalonia. The priests and host Robles appeared on the programme.

Rev Ballester described jihadism as a 'predatory stain' and stated that 'radical jihadism and violent Islam want to destroy Europe and Western civilisation'.

Rev Calvo said that jihadists were arriving in Spain as 'invading refugees... making coexistence difficult'.

Prosecutors sought the maximum sentence for the defendants: four years for the program’s host, and three years each for the priests, along with an eight-year disqualification from teaching and €3,000 fines.

Ealier this month, several English-language publications spread the fake news that Rev Ballester was found guilty.