Spanish court probes far-right leader 'torture' claims

By Alyssa McMurtry

MADRID

Spain’s highest criminal court opened an investigation against Gibraltar Chief Minister Fabian Picardo on Wednesday, over claims a far-right leader was “tortured” by the Gibraltar police.

Nacho Minguez, a leader of Spain’s far-right VOX party, was arrested in Gibraltar on June 20 after unfurling a 200-meter wide Spanish flag near the peak of the Gibraltar while protesting for Spanish sovereignty of the British territory.

Minguez alleged that the Gibraltar police, under official orders, denied both Minguez and his lawyer the rights to communicate with the outside and held them in “undignified conditions” for hours, according to the investigating judge’s preliminary report.

Picardo swiftly dismissed the allegations, saying he would “not lose a moment’s sleep over this case”.

“The legal proceedings against me alleging torture […] are frivolous and vexatious and a clear abuse of process,” said Picardo in a statement.

Tensions have been escalating between Gibraltar and Spain since Britain voted to leave the European Union. Gibraltar, while at the southern tip of the Iberian Peninsula, has been under British rule since 1713.

In October, Spain’s former foreign minister, Jose Garcia Margallo, said that he would be “putting the flag on the rock sooner than Picardo imagines”.