The Almería Provincial Court sentenced to eleven months in prison the man who publicly insulted and humiliated a transsexual woman who attended a mass and subsequent floral offering organized by the Spanish Phalange of las JONS in Almería on November 20, 2022 because of her sexual identity.
The sentence, consulted by Europa Press and against which an appeal is possible, condemns the accused for hate crime and also imposes an eight-month fine of six euros per day as well as a five-year special ban on exercising a profession or educational profession, in the field of teaching, sport and free time.
The court considered it proven that on the day of the events, the defendants, accompanied by another person, were near the convent of Las Claras, at the confluence of Marín and Jovellanos streets, where a group of people from the Falange Española de las JONS political party were present after attending a religious ceremony.
Among the participants was the victim, to whom the accused and his companion began to address expressions such as “get out of the Falange trannys” or “what is a Phalange tranny doing?” “, among other things, with the sole aim of “humiliating her, demeaning her and violating her dignity” because of her condition as a transsexual.
He spat in her face while they were putting her down
The court reports the “very aggressive” attitude that the accused maintained towards the victim, to whom he and his companion also shouted out loud expressions such as “what are you doing at mass, how can you think of entering a church?” “, “Aren’t you ashamed to walk around like that? or “How can there be queers in a Catholic party?”
To increase the humiliation, they began to insult her with various male names and finally the unidentified individual who accompanied the accused “spit in her face and grabbed her finger without causing any injury”, while both persisted in denigrating her gender, telling her “how disgusting, for God’s sake, what a shame”.
The members of the court appreciated the statement “without false intention” of the victim, who was able to identify the accused and fully individualize his behavior. She also highlights the “unequivocally demeaning and humiliating feeling” that being called a “traveler” and a “faggot” had in a public place and around other people.
“Climate of hostility, violence and discrimination”
According to the third section of Almería, the comments made by the accused “undoubtedly fall into the criminal category of hatred”, since they sought to “humiliate the victim because of their sexual identity, because of their membership in the LGTBIQ+ group” without any other motivation being observed.
In this sense, the court focuses on the “discrimination” and “animosity” with which the accused acted, which restricted the victim’s right to equality, as a member of a specific group, with his behavior through “screams” in “a crowded place” and “at the end of a public event, where they could be heard by many other people”.
Thus, it highlights the “climate of hostility, violence and discrimination” generated towards the woman in an environment that “was also close to her” and all this “with the intention of provoking rejection, anger and expulsion from the group of which she was part”.
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