Barcelona “I feel that I am being scolded for being democratic, dialectical and a citizen”, said the activist Vanessa Mendoza this Monday at the exit of the Batllia d’Andorra after facing the trial. In 2019, the co-president of the Stop Violences association presented a report defending the decriminalization of abortion in Andorra before the UN Committee for the Elimination of Discrimination against Women. The Prosecutor’s Office accuses him of “defaming” the Andorran government and asks for a six-month disqualification from holding public office, a fine of 6,000 euros and a further 6,000 euros in terms of civil liability.
The court will have to decide whether the conclusions of the report and the presentation made by Mendoza fall within the freedom of expression or not, as considered by the Prosecutor’s Office. The verdict will not be known until next January 17, but this Monday both the activist and the prosecution presented their arguments before the court. The prosecutor in the case has insisted that Mendoza’s claims were not true because they were not based on real data, and that they attack the rights of officials. “Mendoza’s purpose was not to inform, it was to despise public workers, social services, institutions and the Government,” the prosecutor pointed out during the trial, reported by Ara Andorra. He also emphasized that the facts to which the activist referred “have not been proven, so they have not occurred, and it is resolved that the activist lied defaming the image of the institution”.
The president of Stop Violences replied that part of the report is based on her experience dealing with several cases that have come to the organization. He has also stated that he does not have to “prove anything” and that this role belongs to the state. The activist has said that the government of the Principality was already aware of the text before its appearance at the UN and that it went there with the desire to dialogue and achieve a mediation process. In addition, he has denied that his will was to discredit Andorran institutions and that he did not think that the executive would feel “offended” or that a complaint would be filed against him. Despite admitting that the document contains “forceful” statements – the activist was of the opinion that the Andorran administration was persuading pregnant young women without resources to have their children and give them up for adoption, among others -, he insisted that the its objective and that of the entity it represents is “advancing rights”.
The representation of the Andorran government, cited by the prosecution as a witness, has highlighted the disrepute that the defendant’s statements brought to the country and the impact on the public workers of Social Affairs, who felt slandered . On the contrary, the defense of the activist has recalled that the Andorran government has not suffered any warning at an international level following the report and has charged the Prosecutor’s Office for “prioritizing the defense of the government’s interests over the defense of freedom individual citizens”.
Tracking
“It is a process against feminism, women’s rights, fundamental freedoms and, of course, against abortion,” said Mendoza at the exit of the trial, which was followed by more than sixty people, including representatives of organizations such as Amnesty International, which have also demonstrated outside the seat of the Andorran court. Mònica Costa, in charge of Amnesty International’s campaigns, considers it “incomprehensible” that Mendoza went to the UN to share information about the consequences of the ban on abortion in the Principality and came out “with a complaint”, she stated in statements collected by the ACN. In defense of “freedom of expression”, representatives of the association of lawyers and lawyers Drets have also attended.
2023-12-04 21:34:51
#feel #scolded
