Spain’s Socialist Party PSOE Denounces Far-Right Party Vox for Spreading Hoaxes Online and Causing Panic Amidst the Coronavirus Crisis

Spain’s socialist party believe that the far-right party may have committed a hate crime by deliberately spreading hoaxes and accuses the party of wanting to ‘create a feeling of insecurity, fear and mistrust’ amongst citizens.

The PSOE party has reported Vox to the State Prosecutor General’s Office for the dissemination of hoaxes on social networks in the months of January and April, which sought to “create a feeling of insecurity, fear and mistrust” and in the process, altering the already heightened sense of panic and “of the citizens” as a result of the coronavirus crisis.

The main government party considers that Vox acts with the intention to “repeatedly incite hatred” against the socialists by directly attacking them via hoaxes and fake news. They claim that this attack from Vox intends to “damage both [PSOE’s] honour as an organisation, and that of the government, in a serious manner.”

According to sources, the report was filed last Tuesday, on April 14 and it has been signed by José Luis Ábalos, the Secretary of Organisation of PSOE and the Minister of Transport. The Prosecutor’s Office has already opened an investigation into the hoaxes after a complaint from left-wing party Unidas Podemos pointed to the manipulation of information by Santiago Abascal.

The complaint is centred around a series of messages posted on Twitter by Vox on January 18 and more recently, on April 2, 6 and 7, which according to the PSOE may lead to a possible sentencing of crimes such as libel and slander.

Not only have these hoaxes have injured the party’s honour but more importantly “due to its gravity and its objective” it could even be considered as a “hate crime” – in accordance with article 510 of the Penal Code – as it is focused against “certain political thoughts.”

The main tweet in question centres around an accusation from Vox that the Spanish government is “concealing” the number of deaths, as they post a “manipulated” photo that “falsely shows” Madrid’s Gran Via full of coffins in relation to the Covid-19 pandemic.

PSOE denounces that this image “damages the prestige of the institution” and exceeds “all limits of political criticism.” The montage, which uses Ignacio Pereira’s photograph, without his consent or knowledge, has also been denounced by the photographer and asked to be removed.

Another example that the PSOE illustrates in order to accuse Vox of manipulation is from April 2. On this day the party posted another tweet with a video showing hundreds of coffins which read: “The images that the government wants to hide, and government television does not broadcast. The result of their negligence, their concealments and their lies. RIP all the Spaniards fallen in this tragedy.”

The socialist party deny this to be true and affirm that they were images of the Collserola Funeral Home in Barcelona, ​​which were in fact broadcasted by public media outlets such as TVE and EFE and were broadcasted in headlines and televisions all around the nation.

The “escalation of aggressiveness” of Vox’s social media profile “already exceeds the violation of rights against honour and can possibly even be considered to be a hate crime,” remarks PSOE. In the brief presented by PSOE, the reasons why these behaviours can also be included in article 504.1 of the Penal Code, are because these classify as libel, slander, and serious threats to the government.

The conclusion that PSOE has reached, is that with these hoaxes, Vox’s main goal is “to inculcate fear” and “to attack the honour of the government and provoke a reaction” against it.

Through article 561 of the Penal Code, dedicated to public disorders: “Whoever falsely affirms or simulates a situation of danger to the community, or produces of an accident which results in the necessity of rendering assistance, and thereby provoke the mobilisation of the police, assistance or rescue services, will be punished with the imprisonment of three months and one day to one year or a fine of three to 18 months,” outlines the article in question.

The socialists’ complaint against Vox has now joined that of Unidas Podemos, whose parliamentary group filed a complaint with the Prosecutor’s Office for the massive dissemination of false and manipulated messages against the Executive. The area of ​​Computer Crime of the Public Ministry has already opened criminal proceedings and is investigating the case.

Written by

Laura Kemp

Originally from UK, Laura is based in Axarquia and is a writer for the Euro Weekly News covering news and features. Got a news story you want to share? Then get in touch at editorial@euroweeklynews.com.

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