In the town of Escúzar (Granada), a political skirmish took place on the Internet, on a forum where a contributor called Nopolítico was laying into the Mayor, Manuel Alférez Bonilla, prior to the municipal elections, and then again against the same man after losing office and now as a PP councillor.

By June the radioactive opinion was well off the geiger counter, so to speak, and continued that way all through the summer and autumn. By the end of the year, the man’s family was also taking flak from the inexhaustible Nopolítico, which was when the ‘battered’ ex-mayor decided to sue his Internet stalker.

The Guardia Civil soon tracked the culprit down and charged him with usurping a councillor’s identity. You see, to participate on that particular forum, you have to be at least a municipal councillor, so he pretended to be one of them by using a false identity so as to get online and post.

Stealing somebody’s identity on Internet and posing as that person can earn you between six months and three years in the clanger (prison), according to article 401 of Spanish Criminal Law.

The ex-mayor, Sr Alférez reasoned, “If you occupy a public post then you can expect to be criticised, but it is far from acceptable that somebody starts attacking my family with insults etc – I have young kids that use online, social networks.”

(News: Escuzar, Granada, Andalucia)