Along with Arkaitz Zarraga, a member of the comparsa Pittu Hau, another of those condemned by the Moorish Law passed on Thursday morning to the court in Bilbao. Eduardo González, a member of Sare Antifaxista and the Platform against the Criminalization of Citizenship, was fined in March 2018 in a rally against the Moorish Law, according to the Public Prosecutor’s Office.
The events occurred during a repulse concentration in the Circular Square of the capital of Alavesa. Gonzalez has reported that the van of the Ertzaintza was taken to the plaza by a blow of the steering wheel and identified to it. Publico has received the notice that the agents of the Ertzaintza told him: "Follow us, we're going to fine you." The reason for the fine, according to the Ertzainas, was that during the concentration the motto "I would be ashamed of being a policeman" was heard. Being responsible for legalizing the concentration, the sanction was imposed on González.
Gonzalez explained to La Haine that a member of the Bizkaia Bar Association who was at the concentration approached the Ertzaintza to finalize him. He said he went to the defence to continue with what was happening and to look at how the issue could be settled, and the Ertzaines told them to file a complaint if they did not like the way they did it. They did. "After a year of repeated recurrence, we have a trial at the Bilbao Litigation Court," he added.
The defendant explained that the procedure initiated around the fine of EUR 80 has little to do with the economic cost. "It's not for money, it's for freedom of expression. We have resorted because we have felt that it is not fair, that it is to denounce. What they are looking for is to limit yourself so that you don’t get moved next time.”
Nine years ago, pending the adoption of the Mordaza Law, the Council of Europe itself said that the law was going to be “disproportionate” and its “great concern”. “This law is a reactionary and conservative absurdity to criminalize street protest and criticism,”... [+]