The agitator Alvise Pérez sentenced to pay 60,000 euros to Ábalos for publishing photos taken without consent at his home

José Luis Ábalos denounced Luis ‘Alvise’ Pérez for a tweet spread on his Twitter account in January 2021, when he had not yet been suspended by this social network. They were two photographs on the terrace of his house illustrated with the message: “What would you think of the mental health of a Minister who spends the whole afternoon staring at a couple of caged birds?” The images, the court declares proven, were used by the former adviser to Citizens without the consent of the then minister and were disclosed by different media.

The magistrate explains that the photographs “have no public interest or relevance”, were taken “within the most private sphere” of the politician and are “totally unrelated to his public function” and are, therefore, “an illegitimate interference in privacy of the plaintiff unjustifiable as they are taken in the strictly private sphere”. The magistrate also has no doubts about the message that Pérez wrote: “It suggests that Mr. Abalos suffers from mental health because he was looking at some birds or plants or whatever he deemed appropriate. This phrase is extremely vexatious as it calls into question not only his mental capacity but also his professionalism as Minister of Spain and therefore his prestige and reputation, an attack on him, therefore against his fame and honor”.

When it comes to quantifying the compensation that the former Ciudadanos adviser must pay Ábalos at 60,000 euros, the judge explains that there was “massive dissemination of these contents” as he then had more than 223,000 followers on Twitter. She considers the magistrate that “20,000 euros for each of the actions exercised illegitimate interference in his honor, privacy and image is a weighted amount.” She refers to the magistrate both to the discrediting of her work as a member of the Government, as well as to the massive dissemination on social networks and finally also to the dissemination in other media.

From Twitter to Telegram

Luis Pérez, better known as ‘Alvise’ in his various internet profiles and public appearances, worked for Ciudadanos in the Valencian Community and as chief of staff the then regional deputy Toni Cantó until the end of 2019. Since then, and once his Twitter account in February of this year, has focused its public activity, among other things, through a Telegram channel where it accumulates almost 200,000 subscribers.

A channel in which he posts hoaxes, messages, videos and other content almost daily and in which, among other things, he charges against the mandatory use of masks or vaccination against COVID, denouncing what he considers a “ mafia” both political and media and launch far-right slogans, among other things, against immigration. In recent times, he has also dedicated the broadcasting of his channel to promoting a “strike” against the coalition executive. In recent months he has also released audios related to the multiple ramifications of the ‘Villarejo case’.

The photos of José Luis Ábalos are only a small part of the messages that he dedicates from time to time to the former minister, accompanied by images or indications of where he has supposedly spent the last few days and in whose company. A practice that he has extended to other politicians or public figures from the progressive spectrum, publishing photographs and details of moments outside their respective public activities.

Pérez was also charged by a Barcelona court for also spreading on Twitter an allegedly false PCR test of Salvador Illa. On his Telegram channel, he states that this lawsuit has been won, although the ruling has not yet been released.