Overview

• The Supreme Court dismissed Manuel Murillo’s appeal and upheld his combined 8-year and 9-month sentence for proposing homicide and illegal weapons possession
• Judges ruled the August and September 2018 messages in a right-wing WhatsApp group were credible evidence of an assassination proposal rather than idle fantasies
• Proven facts include an August 19 threat to “hunt” Sánchez and a September 12 plea for sniper assistance from a political coordinator
• A tip from the coordinator led Mossos d’Esquadra to arrest Murillo in Terrassa and seize a cache of war-grade weapons at his home
• The verdict sets a precedent for treating online extremist threats against elected officials as serious crimes and highlights the role of civilian reporting in averting political violence