A Belgian man living in Catalonia accuses two Civil Guard officers of harassing him for speaking Catalan.
The complainant, represented by Plataforma por la Lengua, is asking for six years in prison, but the Prosecutor's Office sees no crime.
BarcelonaKris Charlier, 76, born in Belgium and living in Catalonia since 2015, has taken two Civil Guard officers to court, accusing them of harassing him at El Prat airport, allegedly for speaking to them in Catalan: "If I had spoken in Spanish, I suppose the Barcelona Provincial Court would have said everything." Charlier, represented by Plataforma per la Llengua (Platform for the Language), is seeking a six-year and two-month prison sentence for hate crimes, coercion, and falsification of official documents. He has also asked the court to disqualify the two officers from public office for almost seven years, fine them €4,800, and award him €3,122 in damages. The prosecution, however, sees no crime in the officers' actions, who are represented by the State Attorney's Office. Charlier stated during the trial that the officers' actions made him feel "humiliated, offended, and wounded" in his dignity as a citizen.
The complainant explained that on December 9, 2019, at approximately 4:30 a.m., he was in Terminal 2 to catch a flight to Brussels to visit his family. When he went through the security arch, the guards noticed he was carrying something under his clothing and asked him to show it. It was a colostomy bag, the result of surgery for colon cancer, and he replied that he felt uncomfortable showing it in public due to modesty. The guards insisted he show the bag and, according to one of them, told him they would go to a private room to do so and that he would first undergo an explosives detection check.
The passenger explained that he finally gave in, lifted his clothing, and showed the bag. The Civil Guard had already arrived, alerted by the security guards, and asked for his identification to issue him a citation for "disturbing the peace." That day, he was cited a total of two times under the law. gag lawfor disturbing the peace and disobeying authority, and later both complaints were dismissed.
"We speak Spanish here"
Charlier recounted that the officers told him to speak to them in Spanish because they didn't understand Catalan. He replied that he didn't speak Spanish and had difficulty understanding it, but that he could speak Dutch, English, French, and German, in addition to Catalan, because he lived in Bigues i Riells. He said the officers asked him where that town was, and when they learned it was in Catalonia, they told him, "This is Spain, and here we speak Spanish." However, the Civil Guard officers and security guards explained that they tried to speak to him in French or English, but the man still ignored them and even tried to leave the security checkpoint and head towards the boarding area. One officer asserted that Charlier had understood him in Spanish because he lifted his shirt to show the combine harvester bag and even responded in Spanish. He concluded that "he didn't want to understand" the instructions they were giving him.
Finally, the officers let him go about fifteen minutes before his flight. He arrived at the gate on time, but once he was on the plane, a crew member told him he couldn't fly because the police had warned them that he had caused a disturbance in the terminal.
