Prosecutor closes file on Puigdemont shooting mockery

The Spanish prosecutor has closed the file on a lawsuit over events involving an effigy of the former Catalan president Carles Puigdemont being shot and burned in a southern Spanish town on April 22, during the Easter celebrations. 

The Catalan government "unanimously" decided to file a lawsuit against the perpetrators of the act two days later. Yet, on Wednesday, the prosecutor ruled out an inquiry into the case as the lawsuit does not involve the current president, but “someone who absconded” charged with "very serious offences."

Spain’s attorney general suggested that Puigdemont himself file a slander lawsuit instead, but argued that the content of the celebration did not amount to "discrimination or rejection of a political ideology" or support "incitement to violence."  

Events in Coripe, Andalusia

Footage showed a festival in the town of Coripe, Andalusia, with hundreds of people attending, and an effigy of Puigdemont –wearing a yellow ribbon in solidarity with the jailed and exiled pro-independence leaders– being paraded.

At some point, the figure of the politician was hung from a tree by a well and was burned, after which some men with shotguns and real ammunition shot it.

The Socialist mayor of Coripe, Antonio Pérez, argued soon afterwards that this is part of an annual Easter tradition called 'The burning of Judas,' and he called on the public not to "take it out of context."

For Pérez, the act had been "satire" and not "against the Catalan people." "It is a celebration and a tradition like the Fallas," he said.

Yet, Puigdemont described the event as "despicable, inappropriate in any civilized society."