The judge filed the case for possible insults and slander that the businessman James Roures filed associated with the casebarcagate‘, not considering that any of the publications about the CEO of Mediapro that the company I3 Venturescontracted by FC Barcelona, performed on social networks.
In the car to which EFE has had access, the head of the investigating court number 13 of Barcelona explains that “there are no indications from […] that Mr. Bartomeu (then president of FC Barcelona) and the Mr. Masferrer (the director of the presidency area) hired I3 Ventures so that, through the creation of accounts, they would include in them and publish content on social networks aimed at disrespecting and attributing crimes to the plaintiffs (Jaume Roures)”.
Regarding the possible insults, the judge argued that “it is about ugly, inappropriate, unnecessary commentswhich say more about who makes them than who receives them, are not desirable but, due to their entity and being referred to a public figure, Mr. Roures is, they cannot be considered as serious insults and slight are atypical because they were decriminalized”.
On the other hand, it also rules out possible slander constituting a crime: “Because they are generic and do not refer to concrete facts Expressions such as hosting ETA members at home, bribes, financing the coup d’état, blackmailing the media with football, pressure, labor abuses and corruption, thugs would lack criminal relevance.
And he points out that “the comments in which certain and more concrete facts are attributed, which could be constituting a crimerefer to facts already published in the press previously”.
As EFE learned, the plaintiff will appeal the sentence. Beyond this lawsuit for libel and slander filed by Roures, in the ‘Barçagate’ case, Josep Maria Bartomeu, Jaume Masferrer, Carlos Ibanez (owner of Nicestream), Roman Gomez-Ponti (former head of Barcelona’s legal services) and Oscar Gray (former general director of the club) are being investigated for possible unfair administration and corruption between individuals.