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Madrid: A Left-wing mayor in Spain could go to jail for insulting the crown after calling King Juan Carlos "corrupt" and the "son of a traitor".
Jose Antonio Barroso, the mayor of Puerto Real, a small town in the south-western province of Cadiz, broke Spain's last taboo with an embittered speech against the monarch on the 77th anniversary of the founding of Spain's Second Republic.
He told the crowd that King Juan Carlos was "the son of a rake and is no less despicable than his father".
He claimed: "The monarchy is corrupt, anachronistic and unnecessary."
His comments outraged supporters of the King, who filed an official complaint. An investigation was launched this week and Barosso, who has been mayor for 25 years, could be found guilty of "insulting the crown", a crime punishable by up to two years in prison.
It is the latest in a series of incidents surrounding the Spanish crown, which has enjoyed more than three decades of popularity and the sort of reverential treatment denied to other European royals.
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