Justice has sentenced the Desokupa company to compensate a pro-housing activist with 5,899 euros for violating his right to his own image. In a sentence, advanced by Nació Digital, the court of first instance number 42 of Barcelona also forces him to remove the video from his social networks. The events that have led to the legal proceedings occurred on January 12, 2022. The company led by the far-right Daniel Esteve recorded a video during a performance to evict an occupation in a warehouse in Cornellà de Llobregat after having been hired by the owner of installation.
In the images appeared the activist M.G. being aware that he was being recorded. However, this sequence was posted on the Desokupa networks, in which Daniel Esteve made derogatory comments against the occupants. “Today we started an operation in Cornellà de Llobregat against a group of perroflautas who have occupied a warehouse” (…), “Watch out for the legal knowledge of these critters” or “Well, little rats from today, stay tuned,” he wrote. The court has agreed with the plaintiff by considering that he used the video and image of the activist “for advertising and commercial purposes to attract potential future clients” through his social networks, which have more than half a million followers. The video was viewed 75,871 times on Instagram and 227,000 on Facebook.
Desokupa tried to defend himself, alleging that the recording was limited to “verifying the commission of a criminal offense, which is the illegitimate occupation of a property by various people and that the individual appears tangentially and at his express wish, since he is the one who is come to talk to the workers of the company”. In addition, among his arguments, he argued that Desokupa was not responsible for the accounts on social networks but that they were personal accounts of Daniel Esteve unrelated to the company. The judge, however, points out that Esteve is the sole administrator of Desokupa whose registered name is ‘Conciencia y respeto 1970 S.L.’.
Desokupa has sought protagonism in the campaign by deploying a tarpaulin in Calle Atocha in Madrid against the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, with the slogan “Tú a Marruecos, Desokupa a la Moncloa”.
