Madrid (dpa) - A Spanish rapper sentenced to jail because his songs were found to glamorize terrorism has fled to Belgium in an attempt to stay free, relatives of the singer have told Spanish broadcaster TV3.
Spain's Supreme Court upheld a guilty verdict and three-and-a-half-year prison sentence in February against Josep Miquel Arenas, 24, who performs under the name Valtonyc. He had been due to report to prison on Thursday.
Among other lyrics that featured in the court case, the rapper called for the armed occupation of a palace in Palma de Mallorca where the Spanish royals spend their summer holidays. He also said regional politicians "deserved an atom bomb" and that people "wanted the deaths of these pigs."
Reacting on Twitter, Ada Colau, the left-wing mayor of Barcelona, called the situation intolerable.
"A country from which artists have to flee so that they're not arrested because of the content of their songs is a country where freedom of expression is in danger and democracy is at risk," she wrote, reacting to the news.
The retreat to Belgium follows in the footsteps of former Catalonian president Carles Puigdemont, who fled Spain after an unsuccessful attempt at an independence referendum for Catalonia last year.
Puigdemont is currently in Germany, where he is awaiting a German court decision on a Spanish extradition request after he was detained in March.
