Staff Reporter
WILLY Toledo will be prosecuted for ‘offending religious sentiments’ after saying he ‘shits on God’ and the Virgin Mary on Facebook.
It comes after a judge in Madrid decided to press ahead with the case this week.
The Spanish actor and activist was arrested on September 13 after he twice failed to appear in court to answer questions about the case.
He was released after spending a night in the slammer and appearing before the judge the next morning.
He told reporters that he didn’t believe he had ‘committed any kind of crime.’
The court case has been brought against Toledo by the Spanish Association of Christian Lawyers for offending religious sentiment.
It all started on July 5, 2017, when Toledo blasted how three women were facing their own court case after they paraded a giant model of a vagina – dubbed ‘the Insubordinate Pussy’ – through the streets of Sevilla, imitating a religious procession.
Toledo said on social media: “I shit on God and have enough shit left over to shit on the dogma of the holiness and virginity of the Virgin Mary.
“This country is unbearably shameful. I’m disgusted. Go fuck yourselves. Long live the Insubordinate Pussy.”
The Madrid judge said he believes there are ‘sufficient reasons’ to prosecute Toledo for the online rant.
He said in his write: “They contain potentially offensive phrases for the Catholic religion and its practitioners, devoid of any critical sense.”
And the view is supported by Spanish law.
Article 525 of the Spanish Criminal Code sets out monetary fines for those who offend the feelings of the members of a religious confession by ‘publicly disparaging their dogmas, beliefs, rites or ceremonies’.
The judge ruled out further investigation of two other Facebook posts, from April and July 2017, where Toledo commented on Easter religious processions and the ‘dogmas of the immaculate conception and perpetual virginity.’
These comments, the judge ruled, fell under freedom of speech.
“They may be considered harsh, bitter, coarse or rude, but given that they were made within the context of criticism of a religious denomination, they should be considered as protected for their freedom of expression.”
Toledo could be fined over a period of eight to 12 months. He will not face jail time.
