A Madrid provincial court has acquitted former Podemos lawmaker Pablo Echenique of hate speech charges stemming from a 2024 social media post in which he argued that priests statistically posed a greater sexual risk to minors than migrants, and sarcastically suggested it would be safer to "deport priests" than tighten immigration policy. The case was brought by Abogados Cristianos (a hardline Catholic legal association), which had sought a year in prison, a fine, and a ban from public office. The court ruled the post was an "ironic" response to inflammatory remarks by the Archbishop of Oviedo and found no intent to incite hatred, though it did describe Echenique's words as "ill-judged" and unbecoming of a public figure.