Actor temporarily freed awaiting trial over blasphemy case

The actor Willy Toledo has been freed temporarily without bail or precautionary measures having appeared before a Madrid judge after spending the night in jail.

According to Toledo, speaking with RAC1 radio, he spent twenty hours locked up denied the permission of speaking with his lawyer.

"This is completely irregular, to not say illegal. They only let me see my lawyer one minute before testifying before the judge," he told the Catalan station upon leaving court.

Offending religious sentiment

Toledo is accused by an association of Christian lawyers of offending their religious sentiment. He was arrested on Wednesday at his home after refusing to appear in court.

"Me cago en dios," Toledo had written in a Facebook post, literally translated into English as "I shit on God." It is a very typical Spanish expression.

"In this country, everybody shits on God at some point in the day, but I have been persecuted and judged for it for the last nine months," he told RAC1.

"I will continue shitting on God while they continue raping babies and children," he added, referring to the ongoing scandal of Catholic Church sexual abuse and rape cases.  

"Civil disobedience"

The actor had been summoned on two occasions to testify. On Thursday, he refused to respond directly to the Madrid judge, but instead presented his defence in writing.

Leaving court, he stated that he will abide by any decision made by the judge, but has made a gesture of "civil disobedience" to open debate and reflect on whether "in the 21^st century there should still be five articles in the Spanish penal code related to crimes of offending religious feelings."

And again, he repeated the words for which he was denounced. "I shit on God," he said, "and I have more than enough to shit all over the dogma of the holiness and virginity of the Virgin Mary."