A 21-year-old faces a €3,000 fine for insulting Carlos Mazón online. The prosecution views the posts as a criminal offense against an authority. The case follows public anger after the deadly 2024 floods in Valencia.
The Provincial Prosecutor's Office in Valencia has requested a €3,000 fine for a 21-year-old accused of posting threatening and offensive messages against Carlos Mazón, then president of the Generalitat Valenciana, on social media. The prosecution considers the posts, which included explicit threats and insults, to constitute a criminal offense of insulting a public authority. The case centers on messages published on X in April 2025, several months after the devastating dana that claimed 231 lives in Valencia in October 2024.
According to the case file, the young man published statements such as “La horca te espera y nosotros la ataremos a tu cuello traidor,” along with other derogatory remarks directed at Mazón. The prosecution's provisional conclusions, dated May 21, 2026, call for a penalty of 10 months’ fine at €10 per day, totaling €3,000. The court proceedings are being handled by the Sección de Instrucción of the Tribunal de Instancia de València Plaza 21. The prosecution has also requested the questioning of the accused and the testimony of two national police officers involved in the incident.
The posts appeared at a time when Mazón’s popularity had sharply declined due to criticism of his handling of the flood disaster. Public discontent was evident, with frequent heckling at public events and accusations that Mazón avoided crowds. Notably, he was largely absent from the 2025 Fallas celebrations. Citizens repeatedly questioned his whereabouts during the worst hours of the flooding, particularly after reports surfaced that he spent nearly four hours at the restaurant El Ventorro with journalist Maribel Vilaplana. Contradictory explanations about his location during the crisis further fueled public frustration.
This case is part of a broader context of scrutiny over the regional government's response to the 2024 floods. As highlighted in a related report, a senior Valencian official admitted in court to receiving a red weather alert via WhatsApp, raising further questions about the effectiveness of emergency communications and decision-making during the disaster (see more on the WhatsApp alert testimony).
Under Spanish law, insults or threats directed at public officials can be prosecuted as criminal offenses, especially when they are disseminated publicly or through mass media. The outcome of this case may set a precedent for how online speech targeting authorities is treated in the wake of major public crises. The ongoing legal proceedings reflect heightened sensitivity around political accountability and the boundaries of free expression in Spain, particularly following high-profile emergencies such as the 2024 dana in Valencia.
