The sculptor who painted on the tombstone of the dictator Francisco Franco in the Valley of the Fallen, Enrique Tenreiro, began a confinement this Wednesday in a shop window dressed as a Guantanamo prisoner. An artistic act that he has assured “is not a challenge to the Supreme Court,” from which he has been waiting for a ruling for a year and a half.
In October 2018, Tenreiro painted the tomb of the dictator Francisco Franco in the Valley of the Fallen in red, with a dove and the phrase ‘For freedom’, after which he had two legal proceedings in the Provincial Court of Madrid and later in the Superior Court of Justice of the Community, both acquitting crimes against freedom of conscience or against religious feelings.
Since this Wednesday morning he has been locked in a gallery window – one meter wide and three meters long – with rice to eat, coffee to drink, a cot and a small tent with a toilet to relieve himself, all broadcast live on the internet on the website of the Artbys art gallery itself.
He explains to EFE that in his day he did the graffiti “for the freedom and reconciliation of the Spanish people”: “What I did was much braver than this. Painting the tomb of a dictator was necessary.”
What he seeks is for the Supreme Court to acquit him as soon as possible, since he has been waiting for more than a year and a half for the sentence. The Voces de A Coruña program has shared on its social network profile X some images of the event where Tenreiro can be seen already locked in the showcase. “I cannot spend years and years waiting for the Supreme Court to decide to accept the acquittal or keep it up its sleeve and condemn me. It is not a challenge, but I am not afraid of anything in this life,” he stressed.
In fact, he prefers that the sentence be soon, even if it is condemnatory. “Today a harsher Government could come, I prefer to be convicted now. I still think that if they condemn me, they could pardon me,” he added.
He has compared his action to what happens with healthcare or education, in which if there are delays, there are also citizen protests.
The performance began at 10:55 a.m. in the window of the Artbys gallery—on San Andrés Street in A Coruña—which was precisely the time when the painting was done. Also a key moment, since the mass that day began at 11 a.m. and they tried to accuse him of having interrupted a religious act, although it was later proven that this was not the case.
The Prosecutor’s Office initially requested one year in prison and compensation to National Heritage – it now supports acquittal – while the Association for the Defense of the Valley of the Fallen requested two years and five months in prison by adding the alleged crime of grave desecration. .
The first instances agreed with him when they considered that there was no “purpose or intention to harm freedom of conscience and religious feelings,” which is evident at the very moment of the graffiti, when he alludes to freedom and reconciliation of the Spanish.
