The former president of the Real Sociedad Iñaki Badiola has been sentenced to ten years and eight months in prison for various crimes of insults and slander spread anonymously from two Twitter accounts against different politicians, judges, journalists and a media outlet . Among the 13 affected are the deputy general of Gipuzkoa, Markel Olano, several magistrates, a lawyer from the Administration of Justice, three heads of the regional Treasury of this territory, a notary, a newspaper and several information professionals.
The sentence in the case establishes emphatically, “without any doubt”, that “both the ownership” of the two questioned Twitter accounts and the messages disseminated “are the authorship” of the ex-realist president.
The document ensures that Badiola used these accounts, between 2017 and 2018, to “vent” facts such as his dismissal in 2008 from the presidency of the Royal Society, having been judicially declared “guilty” of the bankruptcy in which the club, and find himself immersed in different files opened against him by the Provincial Treasury.
The letter specifies that due to Badiola’s “discomfort” over these events, the tweets against the victims spread, “like a metastasis”, to the Treasury officials who intervened in these matters, as well as to the deputy general of Gipuzkoa, Markel Olano, and the rest of the victims, who were accused by the former royalist president of “being involved in a plot of political, judicial, tax and journalistic corruption.”
To do this, he used the aforementioned social network in a “clandestine” way in order to “mix” the majority of the victims with information related to the so-called “Kote Cabezudo case”, the photographer from San Sebastian convicted last June for various crimes of a sexual nature, child pornography and scam several of their models.
A “well-known and commented” matter in Gipuzkoa and about which some web pages began to publish news, “spurred” by the statements of the lawyer for some of the victims in the case, who “insinuated” on social networks and in “some programs of television” that in the plot “judges, politicians and powerful people were involved”.
In order to convict the defendant, the sentence now grants “full credibility” and “probative value” to the investigations into the case carried out by the Ertzaintza which, as one of its agents declared in the trial, made it possible to determine who was behind the aforementioned accounts Twitter was Badiola with a security of “99.9%”.
This police investigation was carried out based on “open sources”, such as the addresses of the aforementioned profiles of the social network and the verification, through “technical, logical and plausible reasoning”, of the recovery data of their passwords, accounts email address and its link to the defendant’s mobile phone number.
The judicial text, which regrets the “constant” refusal of Twitter to “collaborate with the clarification of the facts” throughout the case, also reveals that the defendant “did not take any special precaution” to use the first of these profiles, beyond “taking refuge in the anonymity that the social network allows”.
In this sense, it also highlights that, only when his first profile was blocked at the request of one of the affected parties, Badiola decided to adopt “a plus of security” when opening the second account, using an email provided by a foreign company ” that it does not provide information” to the Police “except in the case of very serious crimes”.
The letter also confirms a “relevant, enlightening and compelling fact” that allows for 100% security on Badiola’s involvement in the events: the publication in a tweet of a photograph of one of the affected Treasury managers, which the defendant captured in offices of the Gipuzkoa Provincial Council during the processing of one of the tax files opened by the foral institution against him.
An image that, according to the “clear, resounding and credible” testimony of the affected official, was taken “without her permission” by Badiola, who, by posting it on Twitter, committed his “only mistake” in his attempt to “maintain the anonymity” of your account.
For these reasons, the sentence now considers Badiola responsible for eight continuous crimes of slander made with publicity in competition with norms with a crime against moral integrity and for five continuous crimes of serious insults made with publicity in competition with norms with a crime against moral integrity.
In addition to the aforementioned prison sentences, the resolution imposes fines totaling 180,000 euros and obliges him to compensate his victims with a total of 195,000 euros.
During the oral hearing, the Gipuzkoa Prosecutor’s Office claimed sentences of more than 60 years in prison and compensation of nearly two million euros for those affected. This judgment is not final since it is possible to file an appeal against him before the Gipuzkoa High Court within a period of ten days.
