A court in Vilagarcía de Arousa (Pontevedra) has dismissed the lawsuit of former drug trafficker Laureano Oubiña, who considered that the series Fariña, based on the book of the same name by Nacho Carretero, violated his right to honor because the character who He portrayed him – identified by his name – as a “violent and vengeful tyrant”, an image that he believes prevents him from reintegrating into society. The judge completely rejected Oubiña's lawsuit, thereby acquitting Atresmedia, Bambú Producciones and Netflix International (which produced and broadcast the series), from which the affected party claimed 1.5 million euros. The Judgment of the Court of First Instance and Instruction No. 3 of Vilagarcía stipulates that the series, although based on real events, is not a “purely journalistic work” but “an artistic elaboration” based on the panorama of drug trafficking in Galicia based. especially in the decade of the 1980s and early 1990s,” in which Oubiña was a main character.
The trial of this civil action took place in Vilagarcía in November. Oubiña, who spent 20 years in prison, said his life has not been the same since the 10-episode series began airing in 2018. He was upset that he was portrayed as a “thug, cocaine dealer, tax payer, campaigner who evades justice, is violent and vengeful.” At the hearing, his lawyer Jorge Paladino Hernández added that the character in the series was like ” a person capable of taking another's life, violent, sexist, cocaine dealer, impotent, evil, unfaithful, enraptured, a bad father.” , “bad husband, brutal, stupid, vengeful, misogynist, ignorant or gangster.” He and his wife were also the fictional protagonists of scenes with sexual content.
In the sentence that makes it clear that Judge Pedro Adrián Gómez Pedraza has analyzed the series chapter by chapter, it goes in detail that many of the scenes that Oubiña considers his honor were written by himself in court statements, books and interviews were told, such as one in EL PAÍS, where he recognized that “56 million pesetas of B money were hidden in two bread ovens” in the Baion mansion, the greatest symbol of the power of the drug trade in Galicia at the end of the last century and especially in the 80s.
Over the past 30 years, the plaintiff has “publicly admitted in various media his involvement in various illegal activities and in particular in the trade in certain toxic substances,” the judge notes. In fact, his past involving tobacco smuggling and hashish trafficking is reflected in his memoir “The Whole Truth,” published in June 2018.
The judge emphasizes that Oubiña was already “a recognized person” before the Fariña book and the subsequent series, “given his participation in one of the most sensational trials in recent history,” which made the former drug trafficker “a public figure.” have made .” […] Even known to generations whose birth took place after the above-mentioned Operation Nécora was uncovered, as the continuation of the series shows.
Above all, the judge dismisses the lawsuit because he believes that a fictional series can obtain licenses that are prohibited for documentaries or journalistic information. “We are not dealing with a purely journalistic work that tries to record truthful facts, but with an audiovisual production that aims to be an artistic elaboration in order to give the plot inner coherence and thus arouse interest (… ) An average.” The viewer does not expect a feature film series to reflect reality 100%, because there are other types of productions for that, such as. B. Documentaries, which have a higher standard of accuracy in this regard.
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That is, as an artistic creation, “the series may deviate from the reality of the facts, which is sometimes necessary to articulate a coherent narrative story, without this in itself implying a violation of a fundamental right of the persons alleged by the plaintiff.” Should some of the The judge continued that if the facts had been changed, this was “in an area protected by the fundamental right to artistic creation, which does not constitute an unlawful interference with the fundamental rights of the defendant.”
The judge concludes that Oubiña cannot claim that the series meant “an impairment of society’s respect for him.” For this reason, it rejects the former drug trafficker's claims and also orders him to pay the costs. The judgment is not final as it is being appealed to the Pontevedra Provincial Court.