The Court of Instruction No. 3 of Santiago de Compostela has opened the proceedings against a man who attacked a priest in the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela this summer, following the complaint of the Spanish Foundation of Christian Lawyers.
The lawyers’ organization has accused the assailant of the crimes of interruption of worship (Article 523 of the Penal Code), profanation (Article 524 of the Penal Code) and injury (Article 147.1 of the Penal Code), with the aggravating circumstance of discrimination (Article 22.4 of the Penal Code).
The events took place on July 7, when a man, who was subsequently arrested by the police, attacked the priest who was dispensing communion at the time.
The attacker punched the parish priest and tried to stab him in the neck with a mechanical pencil, shouting: “I wanted to kill the bishop but I’m going to kill this son of a b**ch”.
The president of Christian Lawyers, Polonia Castellanos, stated that, “it is an absolute lack of respect and humiliation towards the faithful present there and towards the celebration of worship and Christian beliefs. This attack cannot go unpunished”.
She recalled that, “this is a clear violation of the fundamental right to religious freedom,” stressing that “these are violent attacks against Christians and we must use all the resources of the rule of law so that they do not go unpunished and do not happen again”.