The mayor of Puerto Real, José Antonio Barroso, has been summoned to appear before the Audiencia Nacional with regard to statements he made about the monarch.
Barroso, who will testify before judge Grande-Marlaska next Monday, has announced his intention to turn the trial into a political process.
The judge believes that remarks made by Barroso during a debate on the monarchy in April could constitute a serious crime of insults against the Crown, punishable by between six months and two years in prison under article 490 of the Penal Code.
Mayor Barroso, twenty years at the helm in Puero Real, described the king as ‘el Borbón hijo de un crápula’, basically the ‘Bourbon son of a licentious, deplorable reprobate’. He wasn’t too flattering about his wife, either!
The mayor also considers the Constitution to be ‘democratically deficient’ because it is permissible to insult the president of the government, elected by the will of the people, yet regards the monarch as inviolable.