Spanish rapper Valtonyc, due to begin a three-and-a-half year jail term for "glorifying terror", insulting the king and issuing threats, was nowhere to be found today as debate over free speech raged in the country.
According to media reports Jose Miguel Arenas Beltran -- better known as Valtonyc -- has left the country, but there was no official confirmation and his whereabouts remained a mystery.
"We've been three weeks without any news from him," Mulay Embarek, a member of the 24-year-old's support group said in Brussels at an event on freedom of expression in the European parliament.
If it is confirmed, Valtonyc's escape will come just months after Catalan separatist leaders went into self-exile to escape Spanish authorities over their role in a failed secession bid.
He is just one of several Twitter users and rappers who have recently been judged -- and some sentenced to jail -- for glorifying terror or insulting the king in their comments or song lyrics, causing mounting concern over free speech in Spain.
Valtonyc was sentenced last year for lyrics published online in 2012 and 2013 at a time when he was a little-known rapper in the Balearic Islands.
These included: "Let them be as frightened as a police officer in the Basque Country" and "the king has a rendezvous at the village square, with a noose around his neck."
Valtonyc has since been hit by another complaint by Campos over a recent concert in which he shouted: "Kill a fucking Civil Guard (police) officer tonight."
"I'm not going to make it easy for them, it's legitimate and an obligation to disobey this fascist state. Here, no one surrenders."
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