A Spaniard admits that he assaulted a couple who knew nothing because they spoke Catalan

A man has admitted that he assaulted a couple who knew nothing because they spoke Catalan and thought they were pro-independence. The confession has allowed him a pact with the Prosecutor's Office to avoid going to jail. Defendant and prosecutor have agreed to a one-year sentence for two hate crimes, and the man will also have to take two courses to encourage tolerance and to prevent violent behavior, in addition to paying a fine and compensation of 4,000. euros.

The victims are a man and a woman who, in September 2018, were in a bar in Badalona when the aggressor threw himself at them. According to the convict's statement, he heard that the victims spoke in Catalan about politics. Without any discussion or confrontation, and "with the will to humiliate or despise them for thinking that their ideology was pro-independence," he told them "sons of bitches, pro-independence, we will kill you all."

He threw a planter on the ground, threw a chair at the 64-year-old man, and began assaulting him. He knocked him to the ground and said, "I will kill you, I will cut off your neck. When the woman tried to stop the assault, the defendant pushed her hard and hit her with a fence.

The man ended up with several injuries to his neck, shoulders, chest, knee and foot. He was five days disabled and ten more with care, and still has joint pain. The woman injured her elbow, neck and a crack in a rib, which also took 15 days to heal.