Courts settle dispute between two Ibiza market traders over the Israel-Palestine conflict

The First Section of the Provincial Court of the Balearic Islands has overturned the outcome of a controversial altercation that took place in August 2024 at Las Dalias market. The court has upheld the appeal lodged by one of the traders involved and has completely revoked the 180-euro fine imposed on him at first instance for a minor offence of physical mistreatment. In doing so, the court rejects the theory of a “mutual assault” and leaves the other trader, a man of Argentinian origin who started the scuffle after a political argument about the war between Israel and Palestine, as the only person convicted.

The events took place after midnight on 12 August 2024 at the Sant Carles venue. The spark came when the now-acquitted trader questioned the actions of the Israeli army in Gaza after seeing that his table companion was wearing a Star of David on his chest. According to the new ruling, the Argentinian-born seller became visibly agitated, began shouting loudly and calling him a “racist”, and then lunged at him, grabbing him by the neck and striking him several times on the head.

No evidence of the alleged slap

Ibiza Investigating Court number 1 had issued an initial Solomonic ruling in which it convicted both workers equally. That judgment gave credibility to the version of the trader with the Star of David tattoo, who claimed he had received an initial slap that caused him to lose his glasses. However, the Provincial Court has now determined that there is not “sufficient incriminating evidence” to overturn the appellant’s presumption of innocence.

The court strongly criticises the ruling by the Ibiza magistrate for a clear “lack of reasoning”. It says the first-instance judge arbitrarily accepted one part of the complainant’s testimony while rejecting another without offering any logical explanation. The Provincial Court judges stress that “it has also not been proven that the appellant slapped him”, meaning his full acquittal was the only outcome compatible with his fundamental rights.

The judicial process has also served to reject the claims made by the complainant with the controversial tattoo, who sought to have the case treated as an offence of bodily harm and claimed to have suffered psychological after-effects and severe neck pain as a result of the assault. The forensic medical reports submitted in the case clearly determined that the pain he presented was in fact linked to a degenerative condition that predated the incident.

Acquitted of threats

The Provincial Court has also upheld the acquittal in relation to the minor offence of threats. Although the acquitted trader maintained that as many as three witnesses had heard the aggressor say “I’m going to kill you” during the fight, the court considers that the Ibiza judge’s reasons for questioning their credibility, due to contradictions with what they had told the Guardia Civil, were neither illogical nor arbitrary. That ruling therefore remains final.

At the time, the altercation led to the immediate intervention of the Las Dalias management, which ordered the precautionary expulsion of both sellers. A few days after the incident, before the end of August 2024, the market management allowed the assaulted trader to return to his stall. The other trader, however, remained indefinitely banned from returning until the trial was held.

The appeal ruling also rejects a compensation claim for loss of earnings filed by the acquitted trader, finding that the procedure used to try to prove the economic losses caused by the days he was unable to trade was not formally correct. With this judgment, the case is now definitively closed.