A Spanish court has acquitted two Catholic priests and a journalist of “hate speech” charges for publicly criticizing Islam, ending an eight-year legal battle.
On October 1, a Malaga regional court found Barcelona pastor Custodio Ballester guilty of making “Islamophobic” comments on a talk show and in writing, but the court later announced that the comments did not constitute hate speech and dismissed all such charges against him, Jesus Calvo, and journalist Armando Robles.
Ballester made the comments in a 2017 online interview with Calvo and Robles on the talk show La Rattonera. Ballester also criticized Islam in a 2016 article titled “An Impossible Dialogue with Islam.”
During an online talk show, Ballester reiterated his views from a 2016 article. “Islamic extremists want to destroy Christian civilization and completely destroy Western countries,” the priest wrote at the time. His work was in response to the pastoral letter “A Necessary Dialogue with Islam” written by Cardinal Juan José Omera, Archbishop of Barcelona, in support of Christian-Islamic dialogue.
“A renewed revival of Christian-Muslim dialogue, paralyzed by the alleged ‘indiscretions’ of our beloved Benedict XVI, is far from reality,” Ballester replied. “Islam does not allow dialogue. You either believe or you are an infidel who must be suppressed in some way.”
The priest condemned the persecution of Christians by Muslims in countries such as Nigeria, Syria and Bangladesh.
Ballester told Fox News Digital that he feels a moral obligation to tell the truth.
“You can’t talk about dialogue when Christians in Muslim countries are being persecuted, killed, and forced to pay jizya (taxes on non-Muslims) in order to survive,” Ballester told Fox News Digital. “Cardinal O’Meara spoke of dialogue, and I answered from the reality in which our persecuted brothers live.”
The Muslim Association Against Islamophobia filed a complaint against Ballester, Calvo and Robles after the broadcast. According to an Oct. 22 report from the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association (BGEA), prosecutors recommended a three-year prison sentence for both priests and a four-year prison sentence for Mr. Robles. Prosecutors also asked the court to impose fines and ban both priests from teaching.
Article 510 of the Spanish Penal Code criminalizes public expressions that incite hatred, hostility, discrimination, or violence against groups based on religion, race, or other categories. The law, introduced by the government in 1995 and expanded in 2015 to include online crimes, punishes those who publicly encourage or promote hatred. The penalty is one to four years in prison, and prosecutors in Ballester’s case had asked for three years in prison.
Europa Press reported that the Malaga court ruled that “the objective and/or subjective elements necessary for a hate speech crime are lacking.”
According to Europa Press, the court said: “No matter how vile or perverse the message, or how patently offensive or deplorable the statement, it does not in itself constitute a punishable offence.”
Following his acquittal, Ballester thanked God and Christians who directly supported him in prayer and at the hearing, BGEA reported.
Veteran evangelist Franklin Graham celebrated the ruling on his social media channel X.
“It is unbelievable that this Catholic priest from Spain had to go to trial to protect his right to tell the truth about Islamic extremism,” Graham wrote. “I am grateful for the fact that Father Custodio Ballester did not back down even in the face of a prison sentence. He was also threatened with a 10-year ban on preaching…I am not a Catholic, but I am planning to preach in Spain next year, so I hope we have a chance to meet!”
Ballester said he was “not surprised” by the initial charges that led to the indictment in court.
“In Spain, a country corrupted by a woke culture, telling the truth about Islamic extremism is considered a crime,” Ballester said. “But as a priest, my duty is to Christ and truth, not to any ideological consensus imposed by the government.”
No crimes are being prosecuted anymore, but “they are being considered,” he said.
“Your own words are considered a crime, and you are held responsible for what others who hear your words may do. And if those thoughts, those words, are Christian, traditional or critical of Islam, then that becomes a hate crime,” Ballester said. “It is ideological persecution disguised as justice. Hate crime laws are one-sided. Crimes against Christian feelings are labeled as freedom of expression. Criticism of Islam is labeled as a hate crime.”
Ballester, a former special forces soldier, previously told Catholic News Agency (CNA) that his comments did not contain any discriminatory or hateful language. After his first conviction, he told journalists and supporters outside court that he felt calm.
Nearly 30,000 people signed a protest petition by the Christian advocacy group Abogados Cristianos (Christian Lawyers). A group of lawyers criticized the ruling as “a legal double standard that does not help all of us who are attacked and humiliated because of our Christian beliefs.”
“We will never censor criticism, contempt, or continued criminal behavior broadcast against Catholics on television,” Abogados Cristianos said in an online explanation of a petition to hate crimes prosecutor Miguel Ángel Aguilar asking him to drop the charges against the priest. “But no one questions the actions of certain groups that have an interest in protecting and glorifying. If we accept that this wrongdoing was committed by Father Custos (Custodio), we will be setting a deadly precedent.”
However, Ballester said the legal battle is likely not over yet, according to Fox News.
“My judgment has greatly angered the public prosecutor’s office, because it suspends all legal proceedings against freedom of expression,” Ballester was quoted as saying. “They intend to appeal to a higher court. The heads of the Haight Prosecutor’s Office… do not like defeat. We will continue to fight for freedom.”
