The TS annuls the conviction of Echenique for calling a man murdered with the complicity of a Podemos candidate a rapist

MADRID, 17 Oct. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The Supreme Court has annulled the sentence of 80,000 euros that was imposed on the parliamentary spokesman for Podemos, Pablo Echenique, for calling Manuel López Rodríguez a rapist, a young man murdered in 1990 in a crime for which the former candidate was convicted as an accomplice from the 'purple' formation to the Mayor's Office of Ávila, Pilar Baeza.

Echenique himself, through his Twitter account, confirmed on Monday the decision of the High Court, which was pronounced after the Prosecutor's Office -- last June -- supported the leader's request to be acquitted.

"Surely the definitive acquittal opens the news and occupies hours of talk shows, as happened with the absurd convictions in the first and second instances. Surely it does. Because the opposite would be a blatant demonstration of how lawfare works," Echenique pointed out.

In his appeal, the spokesman for Podemos in Congress argued that his conviction had violated the agreement for the protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms. He assured that in the judgment of the Provincial Court of Madrid an "inadequate" weighting was made in the conflict between the right to receive truthful information and the right to memory of the deceased.

The Public Ministry considered it pertinent that the deputy's cassation appeal be upheld because, in his opinion, there was no violation of the right to honor. The prosecutor, when arguing her decision, underlined that --as the appealed sentence points out-- "it would have been more adjusted to reality to say that she claimed to have been raped." But she stressed that such demonstrations were "clearly" held in an "electoral context to support her candidate."

In this sense, the Prosecutor's Office pointed out that although Echenique did not question the violation, in his statements he did not impute the crime to any person or identify him, but instead focused on the Podemos candidate as "victim of rape".

Thus, the prosecutor assured that Echenique could not be attributed the fact that the person she referred to could be identified by the "extensive information" previously disseminated.

Echenique was sentenced in 2020 by the Court of First Instance Number 8 of Leganés to compensate the brother of Manuel López Rodríguez with 80,000 euros for illegitimate interference in the honor of the deceased.

The sentence was ratified by the Provincial Court of Madrid, which recalled that "there is no evidence to prove that the deceased --Manuel López Rodríguez-- committed such an act", referring to the rape of Pilar Baeza. The magistrates underlined that this was stated by the leader herself in statements to the magazine Interviú made in 1985 and in the criminal proceedings followed as a result of the murder of the actor's brother.

Echenique was denounced after showing his support for the candidate of the 'purple' formation in 2019 for Mayor of Ávila, arguing that she was raped by López Rodríguez.

In the complaint, the family claimed from Podemos and Echenique, then secretary of Government Action of the party, compensation of 300,000 euros for interference with honor, although the Madrid court reduced that amount to 80,000 euros.