Badalona judge forces bride to remove a badge calling for freedom for political prisoners

The judge refused to conduct the ceremony until she complied. The couple plan to lodge an official complaint

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Una xapa reivindicativa de llibertat presos polítics

BarcelonaA judge in the Catalan city of Badalona refused to proceed with a wedding ceremony unless the brideg removed from her jacket a badge calling for the release of political prisoners.

Nora, the woman in question, appeared this Tuesday on El Matí de Catalunya Ràdio, following a report in yesterday’s El Mundo newspaper. Nora was critical of the judge for making such a demand a condition for the wedding to go ahead. "As soon as I sat down with the witnesses, the judge announced that the service was for everyone and that it had to be neutral. So I told him that if he provided the service to everyone, then that included me too", she declared.

According to the bride, the judge gave her "no choice", despite the fact that she and the groom both noticed that "there was also a portrait of the Bourbon [King Felipe] on the wall", and that "we hadn’t made a fuss". According to the woman, the judge argued his case by stating that if the badge had belonged to an organisation with an opposing view, "such as the PP or Vox", he would also have asked her to remove it. Apparently, her claim that the badge did not represent a specific political party, but was instead an expression of freedom, failed to make the judge change his mind.

Nora declared that, eventually, having argued with the judge for a while, she decided to remove the jacket bearing the badge in order that the ceremony could go ahead. The couple has already contacted legal teams in order to file a complaint.

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