Spain // Actor prosecuted for insulting God and the Virgin Mary~ 2 min

By Víctor Boaventura

The Spanish actor Willy Toledo, previously detained for 20 hours in order to be questioned on September 12, was today informed that he would be prosecuted for “ridicularizing God and the Virgin Mary”. This originated with an alleged offense towards religious feelings when the actor defended on Facebook three women accused of blasphemy.

Said blasphemy happened in Seville in June 2017, when three women simulated a procession with a graphical representation of a giant vagina named “Coño Insumiso” (which can be translated in a soft way to “defiant vagina”). This is a type of protest organized by several feminist groups which happens in several parts of the Spanish State.

On July 5, Willy Toledo reacted to the fact that the women were being prosecuted: “I shit on God. And I’m left with shit enough to shit on the dogma of sanctity and the virginity of the Virgin Mary. This country is an unbearable shame. It disgusts me. Go fuck yourselves. Long live the Coño Insubmisso”, he wrote on Facebook.

The actor’s declarations were denounced to the Public Ministry by the Spanish Association of Christian Lawyers. The ultra-catholic association considers that the declarations constitute a crime of offense and that the words used “cover God and the Virgin Mary in ridicule”.

In turn, Toledo’s lawyer said his client’s words may seem in “bad taste” but he considers that such is the way in which “many times people express themselves”. And added: “That someone should have to explain why they use certain expressions and why they wrote that they shit on an invisible being is something out of the Middle Ages.”

Toledo was detained two weeks ago for missing two calls to present himself before a judge. This resulted in an accusation of obstruction of justice. The artist argues that he didn’t present himself before a judge because he doesn’t agree with the situation.

On the 13th, while leaving court, the actor said that he is doing “what he must, which is to gather attention, because the existence of five articles in the Spanish Penal Code regarding religious feelings is shameful”. He added that he didn’t commit “any offense” and that, by forcing a detention, he was committing an act of “civil disobedience”.