The appeal judge confirms the acquittal of a journalist from the official media outlet ’Cuba Información’
14ymedio, Madrid, July 15, 2024 — The Provincial Court of Madrid confirmed the sentence of a court in the Spanish capital that acquitted journalist José Manzaneda of the crimes of libel, slander and inciting hatred. This comes after Manzaneda had been accused in 2021 by Javier Larrondo, president of the NGO Prisoners Defenders.
In his 2021 complaint, Larrondo requested six years in prison and a fine of 8,400 euros for the journalist, as well as a joint civil liability of 50,000 euros with the media. For the NGO, he requested a fine of 100,000 euros. The complaint was filed for an article published on 5 October 2020 entitled: “Creating a health crisis in Cuba, the objective of the war against its medical cooperation,” with a video version and a written version .
In the text, Manzaneda said that the president of the NGO is “a member of one of the families of the Cuban bourgeoisie protected by the dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista” and “a war criminal,” and considered that this was how “he should be treated.” A few days later, he withdrew part of these words.
For the Court, the expression “war criminal” is imprecise and does not specify specific facts. “It could be erroneous and even offensive, but not all excessive offenses constitute a criminal offense, and the context must be taken into account and the dialectical degradation that permeates a good part of the current turbulent socio-political debate,” the ruling added.
The Court added that in this debate “the excessive recriminations are rampant, and the complainant is not absent from them when referring to the actions promoted by the Cuban government in the medical missions to be carried out abroad, describing them as ‘slavery’.” The Court also understands that there is no hate crime because “the complainant is not part of a group susceptible to discrimination” and “the insult was directed at him in a personal capacity.”
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