Castro made the remarks in a video released by Vox, saying that the trial held at the Provincial Court over the circulation on social media of the Bilbao festival poster depicting Abascal with a gunshot to the back of the head had concluded and was awaiting a ruling. Vox has called for the two defendants to be convicted of a hate crime and sentenced to 3 years in prison.
“The prosecution, for its part, has maintained its charge of threats with the aggravating circumstance of discrimination, a claim that Vox has also joined, seeking an 18-year prison sentence. In any event, the maximum sentence they could receive is the 3 years in prison referred to above,” Vox said.
In this regard, Castro said that freedom of expression “must be protected,” but “this is not freedom of expression; it is not a joke.” “We all know what a shot to the back of the head means, especially here in the Basque Country. Vox will not allow our officials or our president to be threatened; every attack will receive a legal response,” she asserted.
For his part, Abascal, who testified by videoconference as the affected party, said that “he felt threatened when he learned of the poster’s existence,” according to a statement from Vox. He also added that he considered what happened “particularly serious precisely because it originated in his own homeland.”
