Spanish government withdraws video mocking Catalonia’s political prisoners

A tweet with a video in defense of Spain’s justice system that depicts Catalan political prisoner Oriol Junqueras as a thief has been withdrawn by the Spanish government as it could “hurt people’s feelings.” The video from the unionist organisation Europa Ciudadana was tweeted by Global Spain (España Global), the body in charge of managing Spain’s image and reputation abroad, and argues that the independence leaders sentenced to lengthy prison sentences last week were given a fair trial, “with all their rights and safeguards.”

The video went on to say: “In Spain, there are no political prisoners, the defendants have not been prosecuted for their ideas, but for their unlawful acts.” A cartoon image of Esquerra Republicana leader Oriol Junqueras in a thief’s clothing —wearing striped pajamas and a mask—is then shown.

You can watch the video here:

The video itself is not that interesting – basically just slogans.

What's interesting is that somebody in the Spanish Government (@lozanoirene) thought it was a good idea to tweet a video mocking a political rival (and father of 2) who was just sentenced to 13 years of prison. pic.twitter.com/Ct1hPIw5w6

— Joe Brew (@joethebrew) October 23, 2019

The Spanish ministry of foreign affairs has admitted the “error” and explained that they did not intend to “hurt anyone” by sharing the content on social networks. “We did not intend to hurt anyone, not even those who describe us as a fascist state exercising their right to freedom of expression”, a Spanish government office said.

This is the second video that Global Spain has to withdraw. Just a few days ago, Spain’s Electoral Board ordered the withdrawal of a video from the campaign #Everybodysland, in which several Spanish ministers assured that Spain is a full democracy.

Also today, Global Spain decided to cancel a meeting of State Secretary Irene Lozano with the consuls of Barcelona. A thousand protestors gathered in front of the meeting venue, but sources from the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs say the event was postponed because the delegation of the Spanish government wanted to focus on monitoring yesterday’s floods in Catalonia.