“Now when we hang up, I’m going to try to take some photos before they disqualify me and I lose my job,” says Gustavo González as a preamble to the interview he will have with this newspaper. The photojournalist is as indignant as he is perplexed by a sentence handed down by the Provincial Court of Barcelona that condemns him, along with his former partner Diego Arrabal, to ten months in prison and as many months of disqualification from professional practice for a crime of revealing secrets. Both were criminally sued by Mariló Montero and, after defeating them in civil proceedings, the presenter has just claimed another victory.
“It hurts me to read the sentence, I swear, because I can’t believe it. He does not say that we were the authors of the photos and we receive the harshest sentence that has ever existed in this profession: ten months without being able to work. I just did an interview with a very relevant, topical character; Well, if that sentence were now final, I would not be able to publish it. And all for sending some photos. This sentence is an attack on press freedom. It makes no sense. We will appeal to the TSJC, the Supreme Court and the Constitutional Court. And if necessary, to European justice.”
Gustavo’s emotions surge as he speaks. He really doesn’t understand how they have been convicted of a crime of revealing secrets. To be honest, he senses it but prefers not to believe it. Even with the sentence already signed, he repeats what he declared to this newspaper last month: he wants to continue trusting in Justice.
González and Arrabal left the oral hearing relatively calm: the fact that the Public Prosecutor’s Office did not present charges and thwarted the elaborate final conclusion of the accusation was a good omen. Likewise, González points out the paradox of being condemned for the complaint of a presenter whose television program included a tabloid section, a fact that is added to some photos of which they are not the authors and that never saw the light of day.
The photojournalist is aware that, even though he is far from the six years that Mariló Montero requested for them, a sentence of ten months in prison represents a very dangerous entry in a citizen’s personal file: the slightest setback that would lead to a new conviction would lead them directly to jail. In fact, another instruction hangs over him, the so-called ‘Operation Deluxe’, which could seriously complicate his life.