Spanish State continues the repression against Pablo Hasel and activists that are in solidarity with him
On 20th April three anti-repression activists were sentenced to eleven months in prison. In 2018, they put up a banner in the PSC headquarter in solidarity with the rapper Pablo Hasel. The Socialist party of Catalonia (PSC) is a social-democratic party and the most voted party in the past elections. It is the representative party of PSOE, Socialist Worker Party of Spain, in Catalonia, which is ruling the Spanish State. On the banner it was written “Let’s fight for democratic rights and freedom. Free Pablo Hasel!”. For this action, because of acceding to the balcony to hang the banner, they were accused for invasion of the juridic home.
Pablo Hasel’s case is an example of the repression of the Spanish State against the freedom of expression, one of the so-called human rights. In 2015, Pablo Hasel was sentenced to two years of imprisonment for “praising the ETA in some of his songs on Youtube”. ETA stands for Euskadi Ta Askatasuna (Basque Homeland and Liberty), was a Basque separatist organization active from 1959 to 2018, that did armed struggle with the support of the masses. It had a significant importance during the Franco dictatorship because of killing and kidnapping cops of the regime and also killing Carrero Blanco, Franco’s chosen successor and president of the government in 1973.
But after the first sentence he did not endured imprisonment, because it was his first and it did not exceed two years. In the Spanish States’ law, if this condition is met they do not deprive you of freedom. However in 2021 it was know that he was indicted again, because of the lyrics of his songs and comments on Twitter. The prosecutors sentenced him to other nine months of prison for “supporting terrorism and slandering the Crown and State institutions”. Hence, Pablo Hasel was imprisoned for the first sentence of two years and the second one of nine months of prison.
Some of his tweets were:
“The fucking mafioso of the King giving lessons from a palace”
“The police kills with complete impunity”
“The prison centers are extermination centers”
On February 2021, after his imprisonment ordinance appeared on the news, the social movements and organizations of the Spanish State went to the streets and riots started. All across the country protests and different solidarity and anti-repressive actions were made. This was especially big in Catalonia, where the rapper lived and did activism. In Girona, Catalonia, more than 5,000 people protested against the rapper’s imprisonment and for democratic rights and freedoms. During this protest, the police strongly charged the protesters, beating them with batons and crushing brutally the demonstration. There were 33 detained during the demonstrations and several injured people because of the resistance against the police.
In the end, the rapper was imprisoned after entrenched in the University of Lleida, in Catalonia and resist there several days until the police forcefully detained him.
In March 2023 Pablo Hasel served the sentence that sent him to prison. But they sanctioned another sentence of three years for other tweets, where Hasel accused the police of unpunished beating a companion and for threatening a policeman who tried to hurt him in his home. This is how he explains it in a letter:
“But to hold me hostage much longer, they have recently condemned me another three-year sentence for denouncing in networks the unpunished beating received by a companion by a city guard of Lleida while she put up posters. Another serious violation of freedom of expression that serves to imprison me again for reporting reality. In addition, I am also condemned for non-existent and therefore not proven threats, a fascist police collaborator who came to attack me at my home and who had served as a false witness in the trial of the police officer who beat up the comrade.”
This is a case of dirty war against which the current city council of ERC and Junts [Republican Left of Catalonia and Together for Catalonia are two parties from Catalonia, left-winged and liberal respectively, which support the independency of Catalonia. Those parties are currently ruling in the Autonomic Government of Catalonia], in charge of the Guardia Urbana [municipal police], has not lifted a finger. But this is not the end of the repressive overkill, soon they will became final the sentence of one year for pushing back a “journalist” who harassed us and assaulted a colleague. So, finally, the total sentence adds up to about 6 years that I will serve in full, because for political prisoners who do not kneel down they do not reduce our sentences because of prison benefits”.
We attach a list with some of the Pablo Hasel’s songs:
https://www.youtube.com/watchv=cf7cXyl0IdQ&list=PLh_lmKLsSD9_qKInJfFBiX64tkXUV8sjg
