Sixth Supreme Court case against 'Alvise', now for inciting blockades in agricultural protests against the Government

The Supreme Court has opened a new criminal case against Luis Pérez Fernández, known as 'Alvise', for an alleged crime of public disorder during the agricultural protests of February 2024. It is the sixth investigation opened in the high court against the ultra MEP and leader of Se Acabó La Fiesta (SALF).

The Criminal Chamber focuses on several publications disseminated on the Alvise Channel on Telegram during the tractor protests. According to the order, the messages do not appear at this time as simple expressions of support for a protest by the agricultural sector. The court finds calls for the occupation, blockade, and collapse of communication routes, urban accesses, logistics centers, ports, refineries, and other distribution points.

The case is in the hands of magistrate Carmen Lamela, appointed as investigating judge. The Supreme Court considers that these publications also proposed using private vehicles to reinforce traffic cuts, taking advantage of the lack of police personnel, and coordinating collective actions with the capacity to seriously alter public order.

The court draws a clear distinction between calling a protest and calling for the blocking of infrastructure. The resolution recalls that freedom of expression and the right to political participation protect criticism of the Government and the denunciation of police actions. Even so, the magistrates maintain that this protection does not cover public calls for conduct that could fit into aggravated public disorder.

The investigation is not based on violent comments written by third parties within the channel, but on the publications attributed to the space that the Supreme Court considers controlled by 'Alvise'. That point was key. The Chamber had already returned the case to Instruction Court 29 of Madrid to verify who was behind the channel. After a report from the General Information Commissioner, the Supreme Court sees sufficient evidence that the MEP was in charge of the account, that it publicly identified with him, and that it functioned as a direct loudspeaker to a very large audience.

Six open fronts in the Supreme Court

The new case aggravates 'Alvise's' judicial calendar, as he was already under investigation for five other procedures. The best known affects the alleged illegal financing of his campaign for the European elections, for the receipt of 100,000 euros in cash from businessman Álvaro Romillo, linked to Madeira Invest Club.

He also has an open investigation for his messages against Susana Gisbert, coordinating prosecutor for hate crimes in Valencia, and another for alleged crimes of revealing secrets and harassment against two MEPs who ran with him on the Se Acabó La Fiesta lists, Diego Solier and Nora Junco.

Added to these cases are the investigation into the dissemination of an alleged fake PCR of Salvador Illa during the 2021 Catalan campaign and the complaint by the mayor of Algeciras, José Ignacio Landaluce, for an alleged crime of conditional threats.

The Supreme Court's decision comes at a particularly complicated time for the far-right leader in Brussels and Madrid. In two procedures, the European Parliament has already lifted his immunity so that Spanish Justice can proceed. In another, the Supreme Court has asked the European Parliament to process the rogatory letter. Now the tractor protests case is added, focused on the use of Telegram as an agitation tool during the rural protests.