Prosecutor asks for 4 years in prison for Valtònyc on hate crime charge

BarcelonaThe Seville prosecutor's office is asking for 4 years in prison for Mallorcan rapper Josep Miquel Arenas, aka Valtònyc, for a hate crime against the Guardia Civil (Civil Guard) related to his songs. The Belgian police took a statement from the singer at the request of the Spanish authorities a few months ago and this Friday has received the request for imprisonment from the prosecutor's office, as confirmed by the ACN. Valtònyc's defense does not know for now if the trial would be at a distance or if the Spanish justice would have to make a new European order. The singer already has extradition proceedings open in Belgium for the three-and-a-half-year prison sentence he received in 2017 for glorifying terrorism, insulting the Crown and making threats through the lyrics of his songs. A few months after that conviction, in May 2018, Valtònyc went into exile in Belgium to avoid prison.

In December 2020, a Seville court opened a new court case against the rapper on charges by the Seville prosecutor's office and the Asociación Unificada de la Guardia Civil (Unified Association of the Civil Guard, AUGC) for inciting to attack the Spanish police force during a concert in the Seville town of Marinaleda in March 2018. "Kill a fucking guardia civil tonight, go to another town where there are guardia civiles and kill one, put a fucking bomb in the prosecutor's office at once", the singer is reported to have said, according to the AUGC, which considers that these words cannot be protected by freedom of expression because "they are not lyrics of a song". On the contrary, Valtònyc defends his right to freedom of expression and considers that the Guardia Civil cannot be the subject of a hate crime.

Pending a European arrest warrant in Belgium

Valtònyc has been awaiting a European arrest warrant in Belgium since July 2018. He is wanted by the Audiencia Nacional to serve a three-and-a-half-year prison sentence for the offences of glorifying terrorism, insulting the Crown and making threats through the lyrics of his songs. The Belgian justice is still examining the request and is now waiting for the country's Constitutional Court to decide whether the Belgian law on insulting the Crown is valid to extradite the young Mallorcan.

The rapper is not the only one who in recent years has been brought to justice for his songs. Pablo Hasél entered prison last February, sentenced to nine months and one day for a crime of glorification of terrorism. The Audiencia Nacional also sentenced the rappers of La Insurgencia to prison for the same crime, but later reduced the sentence to six months and the members of the group never entered a penitentiary centre.