Belgian court rules out extradition for Spanish rapper

A Belgian court on Monday ruled that Spanish rapper Valtonyc should not be sent back to Spain, where he was sentenced to prison accused of writing lyrics that praise terror groups and insult the royal family.

The rapper, whose real name is Jose Miguel Arenas Beltran, was supposed to turn himself in voluntarily in May to authorities in Spain, where he faces prison sentences totaling three and a half years, but instead fled to Belgium.

"The judge has decided there will be no extradition and discarded all three charges," his lawyer, Simon Bekaert, told reporters near the court in the city of Ghent.

Spanish rapper Jose Miguel Arenas Beltran, also known as Valtonyc, center, speaks with the media with his two lawyers, Gonzalo Boye, left, and Simon Bekaert, right, as he leaves the courthouse in Ghent, Belgium, Monday, Sept. 17, 2018. A Belgian court has ruled that Spanish rapper Valtonyc should not be sent back to Spain, where he was sentenced to prison accused of writing lyrics that praise terror groups and insult the royal family. (AP PhotoVirginia Mayo)

Bekaert said the judge ruled "there is no terrorism involved, there is no incitement of terrorism, so there is no question of a crime according to Belgian law." He said the judge also found that there is no crime to answer to over insulting the Spanish king and that no threat was made that could warrant extradition.

"I feel good, I am happy. But I am sad for the people in Spain, who unlucky, they don't have justice like me here," Arenas told reporters, in English."

The ruling could re-ignite tensions between Belgium and Spain over extradition demands.

Spanish rapper Jose Miguel Arenas Beltran, also known as Valtonyc, speaks with the media as he leaves the courthouse in Ghent, Belgium, Monday, Sept. 17, 2018. A Belgian court has ruled that Spanish rapper Valtonyc should not be sent back to Spain, where he was sentenced to prison accused of writing lyrics that praise terror groups and insult the royal family. (AP PhotoVirginia Mayo)

Late last year, Spain dropped a European arrest warrant against former Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont after it became clear that Belgian justice authorities were unlikely to recognize some of the Spanish charges against him.

Valtonyc's case became a cause celebre in Spain among organizations who claim Spanish authorities are cracking down on free speech.

The 24-year-old rap singer and composer from Palma de Mallorca was sentenced to prison over songs deemed to have praised terror groups, threatened a Spanish politician with violence and insulted the royal family.

Spanish rapper Jose Miguel Arenas Beltran, also known as Valtonyc, leaves the courthouse in Ghent, Belgium, Monday, Sept. 17, 2018. A Belgian court has ruled that Spanish rapper Valtonyc should not be sent back to Spain, where he was sentenced to prison accused of writing lyrics that praise terror groups and insult the royal family. (AP PhotoVirginia Mayo)

During his trials in Spain, courts ejected Arenas' argument that the point of rap lyrics is to be provocative and should be protected by free speech laws.

Rights organizations and activists regarded Valtonyc's as a case in point of a wider legal and political dispute over freedom of expression, rebuking the way prosecutors have over-reached in using the criminal code to punish anyone who "glorifies terrorism" or insults the Crown.

Other cases included puppeteers purveying political satire, bloggers joking about assassinations of members of the 1939-1975 authoritarian regime and singers flouting at terror attack victims.

The political conflict over Catalonia's attempt to secede has also challenged the limits of free speech, with pro- and anti-independence supporters currently battling for public space in the northeastern region to put up symbols in support for imprisoned separatist politicians — or to take them down.

The European Court of Human Rights has also rebuffed the Spanish judiciary for protecting the royal family and sided earlier this year with two Spaniards who set fire in public to a photograph of King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia. The court argued that their protest amounted to freedom of speech.

LONDON (AP) — The pharma giant AstraZeneca has requested that the European authorization for its COVID-19 vaccine be pulled, according to the EU medicines regulator.

In an update on the European Medicines Agency's website Wednesday, the regulator said that the approval for AstraZeneca's Vaxzevria had been withdrawn “at the request of the marketing authorization holder.”

AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine was first given the nod by the EMA in January 2021. Within weeks, however, concerns grew about the vaccine's safety, when dozens of countries suspended the vaccine's use after unusual but rare blood clots were detected in a small number of immunized people. The EU regulator concluded AstraZeneca's shot didn't raise the overall risk of clots, but doubts remained.

Partial results from its first major trial — which Britain used to authorize the vaccine — were clouded by a manufacturing mistake that researchers didn’t immediately acknowledge. Insufficient data about how well the vaccine protected older people led some countries to initially restrict its use to younger populations before reversing course.

Billions of doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine were distributed to poorer countries through a U.N.-coordinated program, as it was cheaper and easier to produce and distribute. But studies later suggested that the pricier messenger RNA vaccines made by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna provided better protection against COVID-19 and its many variants, and most countries switched to those shots.

The U.K.'s national coronavirus immunization program in 2021 heavily relied on AstraZeneca's vaccine, which was largely developed by scientists at Oxford University with significant financial government support. But even Britain later resorted to buying the mRNA vaccines for its COVID booster vaccination programs and the AstraZeneca vaccine is now rarely used globally.

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

FILE - Medical staff prepares an AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine during preparations at the vaccine center in Ebersberg near Munich, Germany, Monday, March 22, 2021. The pharma giant AstraZeneca has requested that its European authorization for its COVID vaccine be pulled, according to the EU medicines regulator on Wednesday, May 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader, FILE)