Court halts custodial sentence for neo-Nazis guilty of attack on Catalonia’s Blanquerna Centre
Spain’s Constitutional Court upholds appeal a day after the deadline for the execution of the sentence had expired
Four years after the attack on Blanquerna (the Catalan government’s office in Madrid) during celebrations for Catalonia’s National Day, the fourteen neo-Nazis responsible have yet to be sent to prison. Last Thursday Spain’s Constitutional Court (CC) upheld the appeal against the Supreme Court’s ruling of January this year, which raised their sentences to 4 years —from an initial eight months—, in keeping with the Provincial Court of Madrid’s ruling.
The news was welcomed by various far-right groups, who had taken steps in recent weeks in an attempt to avoid having their own "political prisoners". The Facebook page Auxilio Azul Presos de Blanquerna [‘Blue Help for the Blanquerna Prisoners’, in reference to a 1930s fascist support group] welcomes with "immense" joy the fact that the CC has accepted the appeal lodged by lawyers representing six of the defendants. The original date of their entry into prison, last Wednesday, was put on hold awaiting the outcome of the CC’s ruling.
The accused in question are Manuel Andrino and Íñigo Pérez de Herrasti, the respective leaders of Falange and Alianza Nacional; Miquel Venegas Girón, Jesús Fernando F.G —who, during the incident, shoved the then CiU MP Josep Sánchez Llibre— and Sergio Reguilón Fumero —who ran on the ticket of the fascist party La España en Marcha [Spain on the March] in the 2014 European elections. The sixth, Juan Luis López —a member of Falange—, is currently not in Spain, his whereabouts unknown.
The rest of the defendants have also not received a custodial sentence as they are awaiting news of an appeal. They will now be able to take advantage of the fact that the CC has overturned the court’s ruling, thus further delaying their entry into prison.
A 'Blue March' for acquittal
To celebrate the Constitutional Court’s decision and also to express their opposition to a situation they consider unfair, —during the trial the defendants declared that in attacking the Blanquerna centre they were acting out of a "love for Spain”— several organizations on the extreme right have organized a demonstration in Madrid tomorrow under the banner "Absolution for the Blanquerna 14. Defending Spain is not a crime", known as the 'Blue March’.
Meanwhile, the Catalan government’s Blanquerna centre in Madrid has also been affected by Article 155 of the Spanish Constitution, as has the entire administration of Catalonia.
