The Civil Chamber of the Supreme Court has rejected that the newspaper 'ABC' and one of its journalists violated the right to honor of Magistrate César Romero Pamparacuatro in two articles published in 2015 that referred to an investigation into the alleged manipulation of the summary of the so-called 'Unión case' of Lanzarote. The aforementioned judge was the instructor of this case.
The Supreme Court upholds the appeal of the newspaper and the journalist against the sentence issued on February 22, 2022, by the Santa Cruz de Tenerife Court, which had in turn confirmed the ruling of a Court of First Instance of Puerto de la Cruz, which found illegitimate interference with the judge's honor by the two articles in the newspaper, and condemned the newspaper and the journalist who signed the news to pay 30,000 euros in compensation to the magistrate.
The high court disagrees and sides with the newspaper, understanding that it was protected by the legitimate exercise of freedom of the press, since it was the journalist's assessment of truthful facts, sufficiently verified, even if they were not subsequently considered criminal. Therefore, it annuls the ruling of the Tenerife Court and dismisses the magistrate's lawsuit against the newspaper and the journalist.
