The Supreme Court has decided to overturn the expulsion of a soldier who was sanctioned online for denouncing corruption he says is rife in Spain’s armed forces. The judges understood that the criticisms and accusations he made on the website were protected by freedom of expression and did not pose a “real threat” to the internal unity of the army. Nor do they consider his criticism of the Spanish crown on his Facebook profile to be a punishment.
The proposal refers to the fact that this army corporal posted, on the one hand, “disrespectful comments to the crown” on his Facebook page, as well as comments against some political parties, republican flags and comments that “Galicia is not Spain”. In addition, he wrote an article on the website in which he stated that the army is “the most opaque institution next to the monarchy, the successor to the regime imposed by the dictator of this country.”
In this letter, for example, he claimed to have witnessed corruption during his intervention in Kosovo in 2002: “In Spain, the favorites of the phone calls were sold in exchange for a full range of drinks and food, which ended up being to the taste of the commanders. “- he said. for example. “If that’s the case at such a basic level, I’ll leave it to your imagination as to what might happen at a higher level,” he concluded.
The Military Chamber overturned a 2019 sanction imposed by the Chief of Army Staff on two counts: contempt of the Crown and breach of duty of “political neutrality”. The sanction was the maximum possible: a compromise resolution, a military term used for expulsion from the armed forces.
In the courtroom, it is explained that not all of his statements have an appropriate penalty. “They are protected by the petitioner’s right to free speech, as we do not appreciate that the said opinions or statements could in any way represent a real threat to discipline and internal unity.” Armed Forces”.
Source: El Diario
