Twitter user given 18 months after mocking assassination of Francoist PM

A Twitter user has been handed an 18-month prison sentence for making fun of ETA victims and calling for further armed violence in Spain.

Spain’s High Court found Beñat Lasa Fernández guilty of glorifying terrorism and humiliating victims after he posted a photograph of the car-bomb attack against Francoist prime minister Admiral Luis Carrero Blanco on December 20, 1973.

He also wrote that “ETA was never defeated and never will be”

Under the famous black-and-white picture of the car, which was blasted high into the air by the force of the explosion, Lasa Fernández wrote “To infinity and beyond!” – a line from the animated feature Toy Story.

The defendant admitted the facts and his defense made a plea bargain with the prosecutor, who was also asking for a two-year probation and for Lasa Fernández’s Twitter and Facebook accounts to be shut down.

The joke about Carrero Blanco was not an isolated incident. Between 2013 and 2014, Lasa Fernández published several comments of a similar nature, such as “Rajoy bomba lapa venga po po!!!” – a call for Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy to be blown up.

Another comment – “Miguel Ángel Blanco en tu nuca po po!” – applauded ETA’s kidnapping and execution of a 29-year-old Basque councilor in July 1997, a killing that rallied much of Basque society against the terrorist organization.

Lasa Fernández also wrote that “ETA was never defeated and never will be” and “ETA has given all that was necessary as an armed organization. Now it is up to us to create a new spearhead organization to continue the fight.”

English version by Susana Urra.