Spanish parliament set to debate scrapping monarchy insult laws

THE Congress of Deputies in Madrid is set to consider a proposal to decriminalise insulting the crown at a meeting tomorrow.

The proposal has been tabled by the Catalan leftist Partido Esquerra Republicana de Cataluña (ERC) on the grounds that the laws violate the right to free speech.

The ERC said democracies such as Spain had to ensure that citizens had full rights to freedom of expression.

“In recent years there have been several examples in which people, artists or satirical magazines have been persecuted for making use of their freedom of expression in respect to the royal family,” the party said.  

The news comes after Mallorcan rapper Valtonyc recently lost an appeal against a three year jail sentence handed to him over song lyrics that authorities said insulted the royal family.

The ERC said this was one such example of free expression being violated by the laws.

“These actions, beyond the ethical, moral or political considerations that each on has, should not appear in the Spanish Penal Code.

“Speech like this should be considered as free expression which is a fundamental right in the Spanish Constitution,” the party said.

Laws covering insults made to the country’s monarch come under Section Three of Article 490, as well as in Articles 491 and 543 of the Criminal Code.