Twitter user given 18 months after mocking assassination of Francoist PM

A Twitter user has been handed an 18-month prison sentence for making fun of ETA victims and calling for further armed violence in Spain.

Spain¡¯s High Court found Be?at Lasa Fern¨¢ndez guilty of glorifying terrorism and humiliating victims after he posted a photograph of the car-bomb attack against Francoist prime minister Admiral Luis Carrero Blanco on December 20, 1973.

He also wrote that ¡°ETA was never defeated and never will be¡±

Under the famous black-and-white picture of the car, which was blasted high into the air by the force of the explosion, Lasa Fern¨¢ndez wrote ¡°To infinity and beyond!¡± ¨C a line from the animated feature Toy Story.

The defendant admitted the facts and his defense made a plea bargain with the prosecutor, who was also asking for a two-year probation and for Lasa Fern¨¢ndez¡¯s Twitter and Facebook accounts to be shut down.

The joke about Carrero Blanco was not an isolated incident. Between 2013 and 2014, Lasa Fern¨¢ndez published several comments of a similar nature, such as ¡°Rajoy bomba lapa venga po po!!!¡± ¨C a call for Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy to be blown up.

Another comment ¨C ¡°Miguel ?ngel Blanco en tu nuca po po!¡± ¨C applauded ETA¡¯s kidnapping and execution of a 29-year-old Basque councilor in July 1997, a killing that rallied much of Basque society against the terrorist organization.

Lasa Fern¨¢ndez also wrote that ¡°ETA was never defeated and never will be¡± and ¡°ETA has given all that was necessary as an armed organization. Now it is up to us to create a new spearhead organization to continue the fight.¡±

English version by Susana Urra.