A Spanish priest who was facing three years in prison for remarks he made in 2016 that were critical of radical Islam was acquitted.

“I thank God and the Christian people who supported me with their prayers and their presence in court,” Father Custodio Ballester told Fox News Digital in a statement Monday of his acquittal, which was published on Friday.

Ballester, along with another priest, Fr. Jesús Calvo, and journalist Armando Robles, faced multiple years behind bars for alleged hate-speech violations.

According to Europa Press, “the Málaga court ruled that the objective and/or subjective elements required for the hate-speech offence are lacking. In the words of the court: ‘No matter how despicable or perverse the message may be, or even if the statements may be clearly offensive or unfortunate,’ they do not in themselves constitute a punishable offence.”

Ballester said prosecutors were outraged by the ruling and are likely to appeal.

“My sentence has greatly angered the prosecutor’s office because it halts all proceedings against freedom of expression,” Ballester said. {snip}

In 2016, Ballester wrote an article titled “The Impossible Dialogue with Islam,” which he said was in response to a pastoral letter from Cardinal Juan José Omella, Archbishop of Barcelona, entitled “The Necessary Dialogue with Islam.”

In the article, Ballester wrote, “This renewed push for Christian-Muslim dialogue—paralyzed by the supposed ‘indiscretions’ of the much-missed Benedict XVI—is far from reality. The truth is that Islam does not allow dialogue. Either you believe, or you are an infidel who must be subdued, one way or another.”

{snip}

“The Spanish state has turned the hate crime law into a tool of censorship and social control,” Ballester said. “The penalties are comparable to those for rape or a fight that left someone quadriplegic.”

“Crime is no longer prosecuted—thought is,” he added. “Your own words are criminalized, and you are held responsible for what someone else might do after hearing you. And if that thought, that word, is Christian, traditional, or critical of Islam, it becomes a hate crime. It is ideological persecution disguised as justice. Hate crime law is one-directional. Offenses against Christian sentiments are labeled freedom of expression. Criticism of Islam is labeled hate crime.”

{snip}

The post Spanish Priest Arrested for Criticizing Radical Islam Is Acquitted appeared first on American Renaissance.