The Civil Chamber of the Supreme Court has ratified the sentence imposed by the Court of First Instance number 5 of Arrecife on the local police officer of the capital, Narciso Pérez, for the disqualifications he made against the former secretary of the Arrecife City Council, Francisco Javier López, in various media outlets. Thus, it is confirmed that the agent must compensate the former municipal secretary with 12,000 euros for "illegitimate interference with the right to honor."
Narciso Pérez was convicted in the first instance in June 2017 and after that he appealed the ruling before the Provincial Court, which dismissed his appeal. Then, he decided to file an appeal with the Supreme Court, which has now also rejected it.
The Arrecife Local Police officer alleged a "collision" of fundamental rights, considering that the right to freedom of expression should prevail over the right to honor. "The right to freedom of expression is not an unlimited right that prevails in all cases over the right to honor, it does not include the right to insult," the high court points out in a ruling dated March 11.
As recalled in the ruling, the local police officer went so far as to call Francisco Javier López a "disreputable official", "windbag", "corrupt official", "shameless", "henchman of speculation and de facto powers", "brute" and "shameless". In addition, he stated that his appointment had been "irregular", that "it was due to political favors" and accused him of "criminal acts" such as "hiding public information" and making "reports to order", among others.
With this, in the opinion of the Supreme Court, he "exceeded the legitimate limits of the exercise of his freedom of expression by far." "He did not limit himself to carrying out a bitter or annoying criticism of his appointment as interim municipal secretary for considering it contrary to the requirements of legality, an appointment that, subsequently, was considered in accordance with the law by virtue of a judicial ruling," adds the chamber, which considers that Narciso Pérez "harassed and insulted" the municipal secretary and that he did so in a "ruthless" manner.
Therefore, it dismisses the appeal of the Arrecife Local Police officer and, in addition to ratifying the sentence to pay compensation of 12,000 euros to the former secretary of the Arrecife City Council, imposes the payment of court costs.
