The Provincial Court of Madrid has filed for displaying a banner in which it called the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, “corrupt”. In a ruling to which EL PAÍS has had access, the Madrid court defends that the word or term ‘corrupt’ is a “serious insult against the president” if it is “considered in isolation.” But he points out that, given that the word “is associated with several open judicial proceedings that affect the president’s entourage, the purpose is not to insult” but to “express political criticism protected by freedom of expression.” Likewise, it highlights that there is no “incitement to violence or hate speech.”
The events occurred on May 19, 2025, when . In it you could see the image of Sánchez and the word “corrupt” accompanied by images of folders in which texts such as “Begoña Case”, “Ábalos/Koldo Case”, “PSOE Case”, “Brother Case”, “General Tax Case of Pedro Sanchez” y “Hydrocarbons Case”.
The PSOE filed a complaint the same day, and a court ordered that the tarp be removed as a precautionary measure. In the following days, similar banners were placed on bridges and walkways in Madrid, and a truck circulated through the capital with posters with the same image, as confirmed in the car. Also, on May 28, 2025, the ultra group reported how several people projected the expression “Corrupt Sánchez” on the facade of Congress.
The order indicates that the events “had a great impact on social networks and in various media outlets,” but indicates that, in the context of a political controversy, it is “evident that a weighing criterion requires giving preference to freedom of expression over honor.” Likewise, it points out that public persons “are obliged to bear a certain risk that their subjective personality rights are affected by opinions or information of general interest.”
The case, on February 13, a measure that defended that the events exceeded “the freedom of political expression and criticism of the political adversary, representing a serious transgression of political coexistence.” This appeal was joined by another from the Prosecutor’s Office, which considered that the filing of the proceedings was “hasty”, since a police report had yet to arrive. Now, the Provincial Court has confirmed the file of the case.
