The Provincial Court of Murcia has sentenced a former magistrate to 16 months in prison and a fine of 900 euro for a hate crime, with the mitigation of reparation for the damage, for the publication on his Facebook profile an “Open Letter” addressed to the minor whose adoption process led to him being convicted malicious delay in the Superior Court of Justice, in the first instance, and for prevarication, by the Supreme Court.
The court considers him the author of a hate crime under article 510.2.a of the Penal Code for harming the dignity of people through actions that entail humiliation due to their sexual orientation or identity. Thus, the sentence emphasises that the publication “contains expressions that are intended to offend all persons belonging to the homosexual group, insofar as it questions the correct development of the minor for the sole fact of having lived together and been educated by two parents “of the same sex”.
The sentence also imposes a penalty of 5 years of special disqualification for profession or educational trade “in the teaching, sports and leisure field” and the obligation to compensate each of the two injured women with 3,000 euro, mothers of the minor to whom the letter was addressed.
There are several expressions in the letter to which the Chamber draws attention, and also highlights the use of quotation marks in “two moms”, an orthographic sign that according to the magistrates is used to indicate the expression as improper or vulgar, “that is, casting doubt on the possibility that someone can have two parents of the same sex”. To conclude that, there is no doubt that, with his actions, the defendant intended to belittle and humiliate two women for belonging to a certain group”.
The sentence adds that “the letter is not addressed to an anonymous girl who could have been raised by two people of the same sex, but, precisely, to the minor, for whose delay in the processing of the adoption file, the magistrate was convicted”.
The defendant was deprived of the position of magistrate as a result of the sentence of special disqualification imposed by the Supreme Court as the author of a crime of intentional judicial prevarication.
An appeal can be launched.
