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25 April 2008
PUERTO REAL – José Antonio Barroso, the United Left (IU) mayor of Puerto Real in Cádiz province, may face slander charges after calling the king "a son of a lecher" and "corrupt."
The prosecutor of Cádiz province in western Andalusia announced on Thursday that he will open an investigation into Barroso’s statements, which were made 16 April at a Republican gathering in Los Barrios, in Algeciras.
"That’s okay if the prosecutor wants to open an investigation," Barroso said, "and the law appears to talk about the possibility of imprisonment; that’s fine, let them throw me in jail".
The Popular Party (PP) in Puerto Real has demanded that Barroso take back the "serious insults" he made against the king.
The conservative party said in a statement that it was unacceptable that Barroso had, as mayor of the town of 37,000, used the Republican meeting to insult the king.
Antonio Romero, a supporter of the Republican cause, told the prosecutor’s office in Cádiz that "the king should be a target of criticism," because he "does not declare money received from the state".
[El Pais / Expatica]