Belgian court to rule on Valtònyc's extradition case on May 17
Judges reexamine whether rapper can be sent back to Spain for insulting monarchy
A court in Ghent, Belgium, will rule on whether to extradite Josep Miquel Arenas Beltrán, alias Valtònyc, to Spain on May 17.
The Catalan-language rapper from Mallorca, who is wanted for glorifying terrorism, menaces, and insulting the monarchy with his lyrics, was sentenced to 3 and a half years behind bars in 2018 but left the country, vowing to "not make it easy" for Spanish authorities to imprison him.
Although a Belgian court initially rejected extraditing the musician last December, this decision was then challenged by the country's public prosecutor's office, prompting a retrial solely on the basis of lèse-majesté.
Court of Cassation ruled: no extradition for glorification of terrorism, no extradition for menaces. Concerning insults to the Crown, the Court sends the case back to the Court of Appeal in Ghent who has to do the case over on that particular point. @valtonyc
— Simon Bekaert (@Simonbekaert) January 18, 2022
Glorifying terrorism and threats were ruled out as reasons for which he could be sent back to Spain to carry out his sentence.
Belgium, however, no longer has a slander against the monarchy law as a result of Spain's ongoing attempts to extradite the Mallorcan musician.
The Belgian Constitutional Court removed the 1847 law from the country's criminal code in October 2021 after determining it violated both freedom of expression as well as the European Convention on Human Rights.