Cassandra case

Vera was charged in 2016 with injury to victims of terrorism after she posted a series of tweets poking fun at the Franco-era assassination of Luis Carrero Blanco.

The ruling was reversed in 2018 by the Supreme Court of Spain, it found that repeating well-known jokes about an attack that happened 44 years ago, about which “endless jokes have been made”, without any abusive comments toward the victim, “is socially and even morally reprehensible in terms of mocking a serious human tragedy,” but “a penal sanction is not proportionate.” The court also took into account Vera’s age – 18 – at the time of publishing the tweets.

Vera was charged based on the following thirteen tweets and in nearly all of them the key to the humor was the fact that the car, in which Carrero Blanco was traveling, flew high up into the air and over a five-story church, landing on the second-floor terrace of a building.

[7] Public reaction to the ruling was quick and fierce; many, including Blanco's granddaughter, Lucía Carrero-Blanco, thought that, as regrettable as the tweets may be, freedom of expression should not lead to a prison sentence.

[8] Nonetheless, the National Court tribunal, composed of Juan Francisco Martel Rivero, Teresa Palacios, and Carmen Paloma González, sentenced her to one year in prison and revocation of her voting rights for the same time period, and seven years of inhabilitación absoluta (absolute disqualification) which disqualifies a convict from holding public office or employment, and disallows a convict to obtain government grants, scholarships, or any public aid.

[18] Vera immediately responded to the news of the Supreme Court ruling: “I’m very happy on a personal level to see the end of a judicial ordeal that no one should have to go through.