George Mathias
GIBRALTAR Chief Minister Fabian Picardo has won a libel case against a Vox politician.
The chief minister was awarded damages of £20,000 to be paid Augustin Rosety Fernandez de Castro, the 75-year-old Cadiz Member of Parliament for the far-right party.
Picardo took action after the posting by the politician of tweets Picardo deemed to be highly defamatory about his role as Chief Minister.
Picardo has pledged to donate all money to charity and said in a statement: “The judgement of the Supreme Court of Gibraltar exposes the untrue and defamatory comments by a member of the Spanish far-right Party Vox for what they are: lies and fabrications, with no basis whatsoever in reality.”
Photo: Wikipedia
Rosety though has appeared to double down, saying on Twitter: “we do not recognize the jurisdiction and sovereignty of Gibraltar, a British colony on our soil, which the United Kingdom has an obligation to decolonize and return to Spain as dictated the resolutions of the United Nations General Assembly”.
Roselty had originally published articles that linked Picardo with money laundering and contraband tobacco.
“The government of Gibraltar for as long as I am chief minister of Gibraltar will never allow those who seek to defame us and do us harm to tarnish Gibraltar’s good name or the reputation of the good people of Gibraltar,” Picardo said.
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