Conviction for anti-Catalan tweets: the Germanwings crash

First conviction for tweets in Catalonia, an internet user has been charged with making xenophobic and anti-Catalan comments in the wake of the Germanwings plane crash.

The internet user posted several tweets which the prosecution deemed to be xenophobic in nature, including one that mocked the Catalan victims of the Germanwings air crash. The message, which read as follows: «I don’t see much rubbish on Twitter to warrant a plane full of Catalans crashing’”, was published on the day of the accident, 24 March 2015.

The importance of the conviction for tweets The significance of this ruling lies not only in the fact that it confirms there is no impunity for opinions expressed on social media, but also because it is the first final judgement for Catalanophobia to be handed down in Catalonia. The sentence for the tweets was handed down following a plea agreement with the defendant, meaning he cannot appeal.

The internet user has been convicted of a a crime against fundamental rights, an offence for which he will be required to pay 720 euros. As he has no previous criminal record, the defendant will not be sent to prison, provided that he does not reoffend, that he attends a course on human rights and non-discrimination, and that he removes the xenophobic messages from his Twitter profile within a maximum of fifteen days.

In the investigation launched by the Public Prosecutor’s Office, the following were identified: «»a multitude of messages of a racist and xenophobic nature" between 2014 and 2015 via his Twitter account, @Carloskonami, which has since been deleted by court order.

The message mocking the victims of the Germanwings plane crash was posted on 24 March 2015, and led the Public Prosecutor’s Office to launch an investigation in which it uncovered other messages it considers racist or discriminatory. «I repeat: Spain should be renamed Subnormalia and Murcia should be considered the depths of subnormality», «Mandela? A black man who doesn’t appear on ‘Callejeros viajeros’ isn’t black and isn’t anything at all» or «You find it scandalous that a bearded woman should win Eurovision, but not so much that another should govern Spain» are some of the messages that emerged during the preliminary investigation against the Twitter user.

The flood of messages of this nature following the Germanwings crash led the Home Office to investigate the source and authors of the offensive comments posted by some social media users against the victims of the Germanwings plane crash. At the same time, the association of lawyers and legal professionals, Drets, filed a complaint against the authors of anti-Catalan tweets and, following the appearance of the first such messages, issued an appeal on both Facebook and Twitter, to gather as many derogatory messages as possible. Furthermore, the Mossos d’Esquadra also opened investigations into 17 social media profiles which, in the hours following the tragedy, posted 24 offensive tweets targeting the victims of the crash.

Xavi Saula

Civil and Commercial Litigation Department
Bankruptcy
New Technologies
Debt Collection and Late Payments