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Spanish police suing Catalan satirists for ‘insults’

Spanish police are pursuing legal action against satirists for insulting the thousands of officers that were sent to Catalonia to prevent last month's banned independence referendum, the comedians have told AFP.

Published: 18 November 2017 12:13 CET

Spanish police suing Catalan satirists for 'insults'

Photo: Josep Lago/AFP

Eduard Biosca, a comedian on Catalonia's RAC1 radio station, told AFP on Friday that he had received a summons to appear in front of a judge in January after he used a satirical character to refer to police as “rats”.

“The first 10,000 rats have arrived from Madrid,” he said referring to a ferry carrying national police to Catalonia.

“I play someone who props up the bar, who's talkative and silly and gets everyone's back up,” Biosca told AFP.

“I've done him for 10 years and I've never used him to speak in my voice on the show.”

A police source confirmed it was pursuing a complaint of “insult” — an offence punishable by a fine — against Biosca.

It is the second such legal action against satirists in Catalonia since the October 1 referendum, where officers in Spain's national service received widespread condemnation for using force against peaceful civilians.

In an article on October 5, the satirical El Jueves review published a piece joking that Spanish officers “had used up all of Catalonia's cocaine reserves” while policing the vote.

Author Joan Ferrus appeared in front of a judge on Thursday, several days after his publisher Guillermo Martinez-Vela.

“It's a humourous article. All our readers know it's fiction and they don't see that we have insulted anyone,” Martinez-Vela told AFP.

But a spokesman for Spain's main police union didn't see the funny side.

“Limits on free speech were surpassed”, he said, adding that the article appeared within “a very delicate context” amid Catalonia's independence crisis.

Rights groups say police used excessive force to try and stop the referendum, including allegedly charging peaceful protesters without warning and using batons and shields to hit them.

Swiss decision to purchase US fighter jets could force second referendum

Swiss fighter jets. Photo: JOE KLAMAR / AFP

Switzerland’s government on Wednesday backed the purchase of 36 F-35A fighter jets from Lockheed Martin to replace its fleet and five Patriot air defence units from fellow US manufacturer Raytheon.

Switzerland’s current air defence equipment will reach the end of its service life in 2030 and has been undergoing a long and hotly-contested search for replacements.

“The Federal Council is confident that these two systems are the most suitable for protecting the Swiss population from air threats in the future,” the government said in a statement.

‘No Trump fighter jets’: Swiss don’t want to buy American planes

The decision will now be put to the Swiss parliament — and also risks being challenged at the ballot box, with left-wingers and an anti-militarist group looking to garner enough signatures to trigger a public vote.

The F-35A was chosen ahead of the Airbus Eurofighter; the F/A-18 Super Hornet by Boeing; and French firm Dassault’s Rafale.

For the ground-based air defence (GBAD) system, Patriot was selected ahead of SAMP/T by France’s Eurosam.

“An evaluation has revealed that these two systems offer the highest overall benefit at the lowest overall cost,” the government statement said. Switzerland is famously neutral. However, its long-standing position is one of armed neutrality and the landlocked European country has mandatory conscription for men.

“A fleet of 36 aircraft would be large enough to cover Switzerland’s airspace protection needs over the longer term in a prolonged situation of heightened tensions,” the government said.

“The air force must be able to ensure that Swiss airspace cannot be used by foreign parties in a military conflict.”

Long path to decision

Switzerland began to seek replacements for its ageing fleet of fighter jets more than a decade ago, but the issue has become caught up in a political battle in the wealthy Alpine nation.

The Swiss government has long argued for the need to quickly replace its 30 or so F/A-18 Hornets, which will reach the end of their lifespan in 2030, and the F-5 Tigers, which have been in service for four decades and are not equipped for night flights.

In 2014, the country looked set to purchase 22 Gripen E fighter jets from Swedish group Saab, only to see the public vote against releasing the funds needed to go forward with the multi-billion-dollar deal.

Bern launched a new selection process four years later, and a referendum last year to release six billion Swiss francs ($6.5 billion) for the purchase of the fighters of the government’s choice squeezed through with 50.1 percent of voters in favour.

During the referendum campaign, the government warned that without a swift replacement for its fleet, “Switzerland will no longer be in a position to protect and even less defend its airspace by 2030”.

Currently, the fleet does not have the capacity to support ground troops for reconnaissance missions or to intervene against ground targets.

Meanwhile Switzerland’s current GBAD system is also old and lacks the capacity to meet the widening spectrum of modern threats.

The military currently relies on a range of Rapier and Stinger short-range missiles that have been in service since 1963.

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