Gibraltar Corruption

Is there still Rule of Law in Gibraltar? Is there corruption in the local police?

Are employees' Human Rights protected? Is there a mafia in Gibraltar?

How corrupt are the Courts in Gibraltar? Is Entain a bad employer?

Unlawful arrest to help Entain

How far does Gibraltar's Chief Minister Fabian Picardo, from the law firm Hassans, want to go to help and protect gaming company Entain? Very far, it seems to me, even as far as requesting the police to do an unlawful arrest and false imprisonment with the apparent intention to sabotage my court case against Entain. My court case about bullying at work and unfair dismissal, while I worked for GVC/Entain, was dealt with by the local judiciary: the local Employment Tribunal, the local Supreme Court and the local Court of Appeal. I believe that very questionable things have happened in all these local courts. My next appeal is before the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, a truly independent court which is completely based in the UK and free of political influence from Gibraltar.

For my Privy Council appeal, I am still, for the time being, dependent on some steps in the local courts. The judgment I will appeal is the Court of Appeal judgment from 16 December 2024. This involves obtaining leave to appeal, legal aid approval, etc. Once these will be given, I can file my appeal to the Privy Council. I expect all of these things to be denied, though, by the local courts. The reason for such denials is pretty obvious: when a truly independent court in the UK will look into my case, all the apparent shenanigans from the local courts will be exposed, which will create a huge amount of embarrassment for the people who found it necessary to do those malversations. An example could be the Court's Registrar possibly sabotaging my appeal to the Privy Council. All of this would, if proven, obviously help Entain in my court case against them.

The problem with the apparent sabotage attempts of my Privy Council appeal, is that they are quite ridiculous. Once all my requests to the local courts are turned down, which I expect to happen, I can go directly to the Privy Council for my appeal, without any further possibility of the local courts to intervene. The Court of Appeal judgment was delivered on 16 December 2024. At the time of writing of this web page, we are 4 months further without any progress in the local courts. This seems to be a panic reaction, aiming at postponing my Privy Council appeal to the maximum. Such intentional delays and stalling would prove that the local courts are fully aware of their alleged wrongdoings. As the local courts cannot prevent me to, eventually, deal directly with the Privy Council, maybe another way should be found to block my appeal?

This is where the Royal Gibraltar Police (RGP) comes in. Confiscating my computer, used for preparing my court case documents and proceedings, and blocking its release for several months, would effectively put an and to my court case against Entain. The Chief Minister instructed the RGP to unlawfully arrest me for criticising his political attitude on Facebook. As "evidence", my computer was seized by the RGP from my apartment, without any arrest or search warrants. I was informed that my computer would be blocked for many months "awaiting a court hearing". Shortly afterwards, I filed a detailed complaint against the 4 police officers involved in my illegal arrest. As soon as these police officers became aware that I was going to file a complaint with the Gibraltar Police Authority's Complaints Board, I received a phone call, followed up by a confirmation email, that "at the latest the very next day", I could come and pick up my computer. This alone proves that these police officers were fully aware that my arrest was completely illegal and a breach of my Human Rights.

On 26 February 2025, I filed my complaint with the Police Complaints Board (see copy below) and shortly afterwards, I got a confirmation that my complaint was received. Then it went completely dead. The Police Authority is headed by Peter Montegriffo, a lawyer from the all powerful Hassans law firm. Hassans as well represents Entain in my employment court case. That the independence of the Police Authority is questionable, is explained in an article of Robert Vasquez's blog.

My complaint about the unlawful arrest at the Police Complaints Board:

This email is for the attention of:
Police Complaints Board
Gibraltar Police Authority
No 1 Casemates House,
Casemates Square
GX11 1AA Gibraltar
complaints@gpa.gi

1. Introduction
This formal complaint is about an unlawful arrest and false imprisonment on 16th January 2025. The preparation of this complaint has taken several weeks as it took some time to get copies of relevant documents from the Royal Gibraltar Police (RGP). I needed several weeks to partially recover from the extreme shock caused by the illegal detention and the very serious adverse affects it had on my mental illness, being depression and anxiety. I as well needed some extra time to investigate the legal aspects and obtaining advice and input from other people. It is my conviction that the police officers involved had the intention to sabotage my employment court case against the gaming company Entain, at the request of the Chief Minister, Fabian Picardo.

The identification number for the Crime Report held within the RGP’s database is CR/25/26141/N and the Custody Record number with the details of my arrest is CU/25/11681/L.

At no point during my arrest have the police officers identified themselves. They came in plain clothes, wore no identification numbers, never gave their names and never showed any badges identifying them as police officers. From later email exchanges, I was able to get a few names of officers involved.
From the Criminal Investigation Department, Crime & Protective Services Division:
- ********** (PS 49)
- ************** (Insp 253)
- Inspector *****************
- An unnamed female police officer
- A senior unnamed officer who was consulted and made decisions about my arrest

The custody sergeant who reviewed the facts and decided that it was necessary to keep me under arrest in the New Mole House police station, needs to be added to the list. The flimsy allegations for my arrest did not warrant any arrest and further detention. The custody sergeant, who was in uniform, should have informed the arresting officers that they had made a series of serious mistake, but he failed to do so.

2. The arrest
On 16th January 2025 around 13h40 I was arrested in the hallway of my apartment building. This building has a front door which is always open as the lock has been broken for years. At the time of my arrest, I was leaving my home to do some shopping. In the hallway, on the stairs between the ground floor and the first floor, I was met by four people, three men and a woman, in plain clothes. I was surrounded by them, which I found very disturbing and intimidating. A bearded man, who much later said that he was Inspector Montegriffo, said that I was under arrest. I was then forced to open the door of my apartment, where my body was searched, my apartment was searched, and I was told that I had offended the Chief Minister, what was the reason for my arrest. My desktop computer was seized as “evidence” although I repeatedly explained that I urgently needed it for an Employment Tribunal case against local gaming company Entain, and a related landlord dispute possibly making me homeless. Both court cases had imminent deadlines and I could lose them without access to my computer and the evidence on it for these court cases. At no time were any search warrants or arrest warrants shown to me. I immediately informed the officers that I was a vulnerable person suffering from mental illness, being depression and anxiety. The unnecessary arrest caused me to go in shock and my hands have been shaking uncontrollably for almost a week. I have been forthcoming all the time, have answered all questions and never made any attempts of resistance. The reason for my voluntary collaboration was that I was convinced, and I still am convinced, that I never committed any criminal offence. What I did was use my constitutional right of freedom of speech to criticise the Chief Minister on a public forum, being the Facebook group Gibraltar Politics.

I was arrested for an alleged offence which I still do not understand: I put a post on Facebook criticising Fabian Picardo as Chief Minister of Gibraltar. As a result the Chief Minister felt offended, then contacted the RGP, which led to my arrest. I have never denied putting my post on Facebook. On the contrary, I have always admitted that I did post it on Facebook. My post was put on Gibraltar Politics shortly before midnight on a Saturday evening, after which I went to sleep. At 7h30 on Sunday morning, I woke up to go to Spain for a walk in the mountains, which is part of the therapy for my depression and anxiety. I noticed that some people had commented on my Facebook post, saw that they were cyber bullies and unreasonable keyboard warriors. As I was not in the mood to start endless fruitless discussions with GSLP fanatics trying to score brownie points with the Chief Minister, I deleted my post. This means that the post was only online for a limited number of hours when the big majority of Gibraltar's population was asleep.

My Facebook post consisted of a picture of Fabian Picardo, whose face had been imposed on the body of Adolf Hitler, wearing a Nazi uniform and holding a swastika flag. My comment ABOVE the photo was: "I'm not sympathetic to Picardo and his cabal with their dictatorial and corrupt tendencies. This gang creates a very bad image of Gibraltar for the rest of the world, for all of us, which is detrimental for us worldwide. The GSLP's national socialist style of government has been done before. What are you going to do about it?" The Photoshopped photo had been going around for some years and I have no idea of its origins. One thing is for sure, it was without any possible doubt satire via a meme, caricature or comic and it was easily recognisable as such. My accompanying text also explains the intended allegory of the photo: that political wrongdoings can have a long lasting legacy for their home country's standing, name and fame in the world. The Oxford English Dictionary defines “allegory” as a “story, picture, or other piece of art that uses symbols to convey a hidden or ulterior meaning, typically a moral or political one.” In its most simple and concise definition, an allegory is when a piece of visual or narrative media uses one thing to “stand in for” a different, hidden idea. My comment ABOVE the photo makes it clear that I do not in any way suggest that Fabian Picardo is going to mass murder people or behave in any other ways typical of the Nazy horrific policies. Not a single person in Gibraltar believes that Picardo would be a new Hitler, no matter how much they might dislike the Chief Minister. Claiming that the photo meant that Picardo is the same as Hitler, is absurd.

The Chief Minister has freely chosen to stand for an elected office in which he opens himself to public scrutiny and criticism. It is to be expected that politicians should have a very thick skin to be able to cope with such criticism, even when it is unwarranted. Picardo has proven repeatedly that he is too sensitive for public criticism on social media. He used tax payer's money to have his own law firm Hassans send intimidation letters to people criticising him. His GSLP party uses a bunch of “Facebook enforcers” who will relentlessly attack anyone criticising Picardo, even going deeply personal and insulting. The Chief Minister is known for criticising political opponents, publishing under fake names in the GSLP's newspaper, The New People. I was one of the people criticised slanderously, completely falsely and unfairly in The New People, in an article by Picardo, published under a fake name. These are practices typical for fascists.

I feel persecuted by Picardo who has illegally blocked my British Citizenship application for six years. This was only sorted out after I wrote to the UK Government, leading to an intervention by the Governor with Picardo. This inordinate duration has seriously limited my rights for Government housing etc. I am as well a member of the citizens panel of the Independent Monitoring Authority (IMA), whom protect the rights of EU and EEA EFTA citizens, and their family members, in the UK and Gibraltar. This is not to the liking of Picardo. This ongoing persecution by Picardo makes me sincerely believe that he is using fascist techniques to try to oppress me and my freedom of speech. These facts are widely known in Gibraltar as I have exposed Picardo's abuses of power repeatedly on social media. This is the context of the post in Gibraltar Politics leading to my unlawful arrest: I have publicly criticised Fabian Picardo, the politician, on hundreds of occasions for his dictatorial behaviour and on many occasions this was accompanied by memes, caricatures and comics. The people of Gibraltar know this, what makes that no one will ever have taken it as if I were accusing Picardo of being as horrible as Hitler and his enormous crimes. The RGP officers who have arrested me, knew about this context but have not used it in their considerations to evaluate if it was opportune and legal to arrest me or not. On request of the Chief Minister, they have arrested me in what was clearly and attempt of intimidation, wasting police time. There is as well the persecution via my employment court case against Entain. This is a very simple dispute but it takes already close to 7 years, which is a breach of my Human Rights. I have no doubt that Picardo's political scheming is behind the sabotaging of my very simple court case. I wrote to the UK Government about the manipulations of my court case, and the likely corruption involved, which led for a second time to the UK Government to intervene with Picardo. The court case against Entain is still going on, creating the need for another series of letters and emails to the UK Government.

The impression I got from the police officers' behaviour was that they saw my arrest as a prank, as a means to have some fun with an innocent law-abiding citizen, at the whim of the Chief Minister. That Picardo likes to interfere with the RGP became crystal clear in the McGrail inquiry. Their police intimidation attempt must have been taken a week of their time to prepare and execute. Are there not more important issues the RGP has to deal with in Gibraltar? What about priorities like paedophiles, arson, fraud, money laundering, corruption, etc.? My illegal arrest undermines the credibility, impartiality, integrity, professional standards, accountability and independence of the RGP heavily. That I am not the only one believing this is proven by the rumours that are rife on the streets.

The Chief Minister's populism equals on several occasions to hate speech aimed at negatively profiling foreign residents in Gibraltar, people like me. This is exactly the same as what the Nazis did in the 1930s and at times it looks very much like what Hitler said in his speeches. When I read the Chief Minister's new year's speech from 7th January 2025 late in the evening of the 11th January 2025, this is what triggered me to react on Facebook. Picardo should not be surprised that if he gives speeches that are very similar to Hitler's speeches, then sooner or later, he will be depicted as Hitler, he provoked such a thing. Picardo's speech was directed to all his fellow Gibraltarians, not to all of Gibraltar's residents. He makes a clear distinction between “us” and “them”, hate speech in other words which I felt was directed at me. A few extracts of Picardo's speech:
"As we get larger we must define clearly who is entitled to the many benefits that our nation provides to its citizens.
Housing, access to the services of our Health Authority and students scholarships are the flagship benefits that we enjoy in Gibraltar.
It is time to ensure that our rules are clearly drawn to provide these benefits to our people and NOT to those who may move here simply to benefit from them.
In coming months we will, also, therefore be drawing more tightly the entitlement criteria for access to services going forward.
I am sure that there will be widespread support for this throughout the community to ensure the sustainability of these benefits for our children."

The enormous shock of being arrested made that I forgot to mention this during the interview in New Mole House, although I did mention the Chief Minister's provocations in general a few times. I did send it afterwards to the RGP via email but none of these provocations by Picardo were considered by the RGP. The RGP just followed Picardo's orders without analysing if it was reasonable to arrest me or not.

3. Is it illegal to compare a politician with Hitler?
Godwin's law (or Godwin's rule), short for Godwin's law of Nazi analogies, is an internet adage asserting: "As an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches one." As an extension of Godwin's law, over time, all internet debates will end up with one participant comparing another to Adolf Hitler, or the Nazis. A politician standing for election can easily foresee that one day, he will be compared to Hitler, especially if he involves himself in persecuting people without a reason. If Picardo did not want to be confronted by such comparisons, he should have decided not to stand for election. This is why politicians should have thick skin and not abuse police officers to round up law abiding citizens who criticise him. My unlawful arrest is shockingly similar to the Nacht und Nebel (meaning Night and Fog) Decree, a directive issued by Adolf Hitler on 7th December 1941 targeting political activists and resistance "helpers" in the territories occupied by Nazi Germany during World War II, who were to be imprisoned, executed, or made to disappear. Picardo himself has provided the evidence that in some ways he thinks and acts like Hitler.

There were those who labelled US President Barack Obama a Nazi in response to some of his interventionist government policies. These people failed to appreciate the absurdity of the suggestion. In my case, I never said or alleged that Picardo was the same as Hitler, my comment ABOVE the photo made that clear. It is absurd that Picardo saw it as such, and that the police officers followed him in that absurd belief. The photo did not stand on its own, it had to be seen TOGETHER with my comment, which the police officers did not do, they only focussed on the photo and took it out of its context to make it look like a criminal offence, which it was not. No one was ever arrested for calling Obama a Nazi.

Nigel Farage (UKIP, Reform UK) is often called a Nazi, but no one ever got arrested for this.

Donald Trump is called a Nazi and depicted as Hitler in the USA, the country known for its extravagant law suits. Trump never sued anyone for it.

I have never said or suggested that Picardo is literally Hitler, but that he is like Hitler in certain respects. So much is clear from my comment ABOVE the photo. Comparing two people is not the same as equating them. It's like comparing a cotton sweater to a cashmere one. The question to be considered is if Picardo himself has created the climate and circumstances for being compared with Hitler, that Picardo has provoked or invited such comparisons. Picardo's use of propaganda. The demonization of foreigners. The creation of a Messiah Complex whereby only he can “save” us. Attacking our democratic institutions as exposed in the McGrail inquiry. In these respects, Picardo is “like Hitler”. Both are authoritarian leaders who attempted to dismantle the rule of law. Hitler succeeded, while Picardo is working at it, with the help of his GSLP party. Both are viewed as malignant narcissistic, megalomaniac sociopaths. Both were demagogues who relied on dog whistle phrases in their early campaigns to align themselves with their peoples' entitlement, fear, prejudice & greed. Both brought their respective countries to their knees, Hitler succeeded, and Picardo is getting there quickly. Populism: Picardo and Hitler have at least this one ideology in common. Intolerance of criticism: both Hitler and Picardo have shown this on many occasions.

How does Germany think nowadays about comparing people to Hitler or the Nazis? In April 2017 two lawsuits took place, the first one by the extreme right political party AfD's leader Alice Weidel. A Hamburg court threw out her cease-and-desist request against a show that had called her a "Nazi bitch", since it was clearly satire. The other was Green politician Volker Beck who lost a slander case in which a far-right politician called him Obergauleiter of hordes of members of the Nazi paramilitary SA. Germany's top court decided that the two politicians had been involved in a verbal sparring match. Thus, the words against Beck were considered polemical rather than slanderous.

A Google search will result in countless other politicians being compared to Hitler, including being presented as Hitler in memes, caricatures and comics. None of the people who publish them, were arrested. Comparing a politician to Hitler can be an indication of bad taste, of poor argument, of clumsy and lazy arguing, of being short sighted, be seen as absurd, but in no way as a criminal offence needing an arrest and prosecution.

This explains why there was no arrest warrant or search warrant, a Judge would never have allowed it as no criminal offence had been committed. The police officers who arrested me, went rogue to please the Chief Minister.

4. Strange behaviour by the RGP At my arrest on 16th January 2025, I have not been offered a single document, or copies of them, about my arrest or the reasons for it, although I had to sign many forms and documents. On 23rd January 2025 I had to file a subject access request, which could take up to thirty days to get a reply. I was not given any reference or case numbers. Even worse is that I could only communicate with my legal advisers about my arrest based on what little I remembered after having fallen in a heavy shock, caused by the unlawful arrest. It seems like a normal practice that when you sign a paper, you get at least a copy of what you have signed for later reference and analysis. That I was never given such copies, seems to indicate an attempt by the RGP to make it more difficult to me to take legal action against them. They were trying to hide an intentional attempt to obfuscate that they were playing a prank on me. It was made clear to me that my computer, which I needed for my civil court cases, would be kept for several months. This again strongly indicates that the aim of my arrest was to seize my computer to block my court case against Entain going to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, a truly independent court in the UK.

On Tuesday morning of 21st January 2025, I went to the counter of the New Mole House police station and stated that I wanted to press charges against the police officers who had unlawfully arrested me. The young man at the counter talked on the phone with someone and then sent me to the Casemates police station where, I was told, someone was waiting for me. I walked all the way to Casemates Square, but no one was present in this police station. I called the general police phone number 200 72500 to explain that no one was waiting in the Casemates police station. I was put on hold for a few minutes and then I was asked why I was there. I replied that I was about to press charges against the police officers who had unlawfully arrested me. I was then told that I was at the wrong place and that I needed to go to the Gibraltar Police Authority in the same Casemates Square. Moments later, I received a phone call from the RGP during which it was explained to me that there was no need to keep my computer for months “as evidence” but that it could be handed back to me at the very latest the next day. My intention to press charges against the police officers who unlawfully arrested me clearly had caused panic and all of a sudden everything became possible. The prank was exposed and the RGP obviously had not expected this to happen. The aim to sabotage my court case against Entain by taking my computer away so I could not work on my court cases anymore had collapsed. Doing the Chief Minister's bidding seemed all of a sudden not important anymore for these RGP officers. This all clearly indicates that the police officers involved knew perfectly well that arresting me was wrong and that they had intentionally wrongfully arrested me, believing that they would get away with it. Sabotaging my court case against Entain was what was really the reason for my arrest.

During my arrest, and until to date, the only thing I have ever admitted was having submitted a post on the Facebook group Gibraltar Politics. I never admitted that I had broken the law. My post was subject to approval by the admin team from Gibraltar Politics. It is this admin team who decided that my post was harmless and then published it. The admins of this group are vastly experienced and have in the past several times been asked to remove offensive posts, so they are very well versed in deciding what is offensive or not, to protect themselves against becoming subjected to legal action. If the police officers were really seriously thinking that I had committed an offence, then they should have gone and arrest the admins of Gibraltar Politics too as it was their decision to publish my post. I have never admitted that I committed a criminal offence. I continue to deny that I ever committed a criminal offence. I used my constitutionally guaranteed freedom of speech to voice my sincere beliefs and opinions, using satire.

5. Procedural irregularities
The body search to which I was subjected inside my own apartment, was completely unnecessary. Police officers can only search a person if they have reasonable grounds to believe that this person may be a danger to himself or others, might try to escape, or might have evidence relating to an offence on his person. None of these conditions applied to me.

The search of my apartment was completely unnecessary as the evidence of my Facebook post was already in the RGP's possession as they had screenshots of my Facebook post. Combined with my voluntary admission that I had indeed posted it on Gibraltar Politics, this was all the evidence the RGP needed. The police officers had no reasonable grounds to believe that they would find any new evidence in my apartment. A search of my apartment could only be done if the offence I had been arrested for was “indictable”. Indictable offences are serious and are able to result in a prison sentence of over six months. “Offending the Chief Minister” is not an indictable offence. At the very highest, it might have been labelled as a minor summary offence or no offence at all, being the constitutional freedom of expression.

The seizure of my computer was completely unnecessary. The computer contained a copy of the photo which shows Picardo as Hitler. The RGP officers explained that having the photo on my computer was not an offence. The alleged offence was posting it on Facebook. That the police officers were still very intent on confiscating my computer, proves that they had an ulterior motive, specifically after I had explained that I needed this computer to work on my life changing court cases. Till to date, I strongly believe that this whole unlawful arrest saga had as only intentions to intimidate me and sabotage my court cases, specifically the Privy Council appeal against Entain, at the request of the Chief Minister. The McGrail inquiry has made it clear that Picardo is capable of such manipulations.

The police's powers of arrest should not conflict with a person's human rights. The right to liberty is protected under Article 5 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), which is given effect in Gibraltar through the Gibraltar Constitution Order 2006. This prevents people, including the police, from detaining someone in most circumstances. This does mean that my unlawful arrest was a breach of my right to liberty. Article 5 also requires the police (and the courts) to do certain things for anyone who is arrested or detained. It says that you must be told why you are being detained, you must be brought before a judge promptly and the lawfulness of your detention can be challenged. I challenged the lawfulness of my arrest immediately, referring to my constitutional right of freedom of speech. The police officers had no intention at all to bring me in front of a judge promptly: they told me on several occasions that it would take several months before a judge would look into my case and therefore my computer had to remain confiscated for all those months. This was exaggerated and clearly intended to intimidate me. It was as well clear that the aim of my illegal arrest was to make it impossible for me to use my computer to continue my court case against Entain at the Privy Council.

I have never seen or read the complaint the Chief Minister himself filed with the police and which led to my arrest. The only thing that I was told, during my interview in the New Mole House police station, is that the Chief Minister felt offended by the photo but not by the message which accompanied the photo. My short text was about the corruption in Gibraltar at the highest levels in Government, as published in international newspapers. I deplored that this creates a bad image for Gibraltar internationally. The photo was a meme, a comic, a caricature and it cannot be seen as anything else. The photo has to be considered TOGETHER with its accompanying text and not as a stand-alone object, as the police officers erroneously have done, potentially deliberately taking the photo out of context to make it look like an offence. The accompanying text does in no way suggest that I accuse the Chief Minister of wanting to, or being involved in, any kind of mass murder of Jews and other minorities. The photo, being a meme or comic or caricature, was added to underscore my point that I strongly believe that the Chief Minister acts like a dictator. My Facebook post, the text accompanied by a photo, is nothing else than an expression of my constitutional right of freedom of speech using satire. This is not a criminal offence at all. The police have acted as prosecutor, judge and jury. It raises serious questions why these police officers have spent countless hours on this non-event. The photo has been doing the rounds for a couple of years, so I am sure that the Chief Minister had seen it before. The Chief Minister has freely chosen to stand for election to get in his position. He has been Chief Minister for over thirteen years. It is generally accepted that politicians should have a thick skin and expect to be publicly criticised. Many politicians all over the world can expect to, sooner or later, be compared to Hitler. The Chief Minister is as well one of Gibraltar's top lawyers, a very intelligent man, he should have known better.

As I have never committed a criminal offence, but the police officers still felt that there could be an issue, the correct way should have been to invite me to the police station for a chat and to ask me a few questions, which should have been the end of the matter. The arrest was completely unnecessary. In fact, the RGP already had all the "evidence" they needed as I was shown prints of a screenshot, supposedly made by the Chief Minister, of my Facebook post, clearly mentioning my name and showing my Facebook profile photo. There was no way I could ever claim that I had not posted this on Facebook and there was no need for me to delete evidence. I as well immediately and voluntarily admitted that I had made the post. At this point I should have been de-arrested. It was explained to me that having the photo on my computer was not a problem, the publication of my post was the alleged problem. Still my computer was seized as "evidence" for a criminal offence I never committed. I explained several times that I needed my computer to work on two court cases, one an employment dispute with Entain, which is going on for almost seven years and made me destitute. The other court case is with my landlord for rent arrears and with the intention of making me homeless. These are very significant matters for someone who already suffers many years from mental illness. What is of particular interest is that the Hassans law firm represents my ex-employer Entain and that the Chief Minister is from this same law firm. The McGrail inquiry has proven the very strong bonds that still exist between Picardo and Hassans. I have on many occasions complained about irregularities in the way Hassans are dealing with my court case and believe that there could be corruption going on to sabotage my court case. This court case now has to go to an appeal at the Privy Council, a truly independent court in the UK. This will expose the shenanigans which have happened. Clearly this must be the reason why my computer had to be seized.

As soon as I was unlawfully arrested, I immediately informed the police officers that I was suffering from depression and anxiety, making it clear that I was a vulnerable person. The probability that new damage could be caused to my mental health was clear from the very start. Still, I was not offered any medical assistance by the RGP. I was offered the assistance of a lawyer, which I did not want because it would have taken hours for one to arrive and I was very eager to have this over and done with at the earliest possible occasion because of my mental illness and the grave effect it was having on me, causing me to go in shock. Again, no medical assistance was offered.

The RGP later claimed that I had accepted that I had committed a criminal offence by signing and accepting a caution. I only signed the caution, on 22nd January 2025, to have my computer returned to me and I signed it under extreme duress because I needed it for my court cases and their very imminent legal deadlines. Not having access to my computer was blocking my access to justice and I was told repeatedly that it would take several months for this to go to a court. It was extremely unjust and unfair that my computer was kept hostage as a means to force me to sign a caution under extreme duress, especially because of my mental illness, and by the RGP forcing me to falsely admit that I had committed a criminal offence, which I never committed. This is gross misconduct by police officers, abusing their powers and causing damage to the mental health of a vulnerable person.

During the arrest or thereafter, I was never given copies of the papers I signed. I only started to get some input and feedback after I had communicated to the police control room on the non-emergency number 200 72500 that I was going to press charges against the police officers involved in my unlawful arrest and the illegal search of my apartment, seizing my computer. The extremely quick response, within minutes, of Acting Inspector Perry to call me on my mobile phone, and then confirm the call in writing via email, showed that these officers were very well aware that their actions were highly questionable. All of a sudden, my computer did not have to remain confiscated for months, but I would have it back at the very latest the next day, after being forced to sign the caution. If I had not mentioned that I was going to press charges, I am sure that my computer would not have been returned to me and my court case against Entain would have been torpedoed and forcefully ended by the RGP, at the request of Picardo.

6. The RGP Code of Conduct
The RGP's Code of Professional Standards for Police Officers was published in April 2007.
Several principles of this code of conduct were breached by the police officers involved in my arrest.

Principle 3: Lawful Orders
Police officers obey lawful orders and refrain from carrying out any orders they know, or ought to know, are unlawful.

Principle 5: Authority, Respect and Courtesy
Police officers do not abuse their powers or authority and respect the rights of all individuals.
The guidance for this principle mentions: “Police officers, to the best of their ability, respect the fact that some individuals who come into contact with the police, such as victims, witnesses or suspects may be vulnerable and therefore may require additional support and assistance.”

Principle 9: General Conduct
Police officers do not behave in a manner which brings, or is likely to bring, discredit on the police service or that undermines or is likely to undermine public confidence in the Royal Gibraltar Police, whether on or off duty.
The guidance for this principle mentions: “Bringing discredit on the police service is when public confidence or the reputation of the Royal Gibraltar Police is damaged or could be damaged by the actions of a police officer or group of police officers. In the interests of fairness, consistency and reasonableness, the test is not solely about the amount of media coverage but having due regard to all the circumstances.”

Principle 10: Challenging and Reporting Improper Conduct
Police officers challenge and, when appropriate, take action or report breaches of this code and the improper conduct of colleagues.

7. Class justice
Class justice means, essentially, that the principles of justice operate inequitably in favour of one class of people in relation to other classes.

I have already mentioned provocations by Picardo towards my person and his apparent persecution of a political activist, it is well known that I support the GSD actively. This led to an article in the GSLP's party political newspaper The New People, in the edition of 16th July 2020, where I was referred to as: "a guy from outside Gibraltar", "Where is he from...", "he comes here and and tells us..." and "What does Bart live off and does he satisfy the minimum income requirements...". This is hate speech trying to make Gibraltarians get negative feelings about me being a foreigner. This article was written by Picardo, under a fake name, as I was later informed.

I filed a formal complaint with the RGP against The New People, and the author of the article, under the Gibraltar Defamation Act re the mentioning of my name in a libellous and defamatory way. The RGP refused to act on it, with the argument that it was a matter for the Supreme Court. The wrong and misleading information in this article continues to be used to date by GSLP fanatics to attack me on social media and who try to make me look bad for the whole of Gibraltar. I was approached in the street by aggressive people who believed the contents of this article and several threw verbal abuse at me for it. I genuinely feared that this situation might have gotten out of hand and that I would be physically attacked.

The Chief Minister wrote an article which clearly is a criminal offence and the RGP refused to do anything about it. On the other hand, I used my constitutional freedom of speech and got arrested. The RGP is guilty of class justice without any possible doubt.

8. Conclusion
The unlawful arrest came as an enormous shock to me, and it has significantly deteriorated my mental illness. It has taken weeks, and will likely take several more months to somehow recover from this, although I most probably will never recover from it completely. I feel mentally raped. I do not feel safe at home anymore and seeing a police officer or a police car scares me tremendously, even civilians looking like plain clothes police scare me now. The RGP's prank caused serious damage to my mental health, which was perfectly foreseeable and against the RGP's duty of care. This is just another scandal the RGP is involved in, most likely to please the Chief Minister without consideration about vulnerable people. It seems very likely that arresting me, and seizing my computer, was an intentional and well considered plan to pervert the course of justice by sabotaging my court case against Entain.

9. My demands
As I never committed any criminal offence, the caution has to be removed from my criminal record and I have to be formally de-arrested. All data about my person collected during my unlawful arrest have to be destroyed, including the mug shots, finger prints and DNA sample. The police officers involved need to undergo a rigorous disciplinary process, although it might be preferable to put them in front of a judge because of their gross misconduct, even if this might mean that they will lose their jobs. Perverting the course of justice is a very serious matter. They will reap what they sowed, as there can be no doubt that their prank was known to them as breaking the code of conduct and the law, creating a bad image for the RGP. As there was a breach of my Human Rights, compensation should be awarded for the unlawful arrest.

This complaint is heavily influenced by the involvement of Hassans lawyers at various levels, I refer to refer to Robert Vasquez's blog Llanito World: https://gibnews.wordpress.com/2024/06/20/montegriffo-two-wrongs-do-not-make-a-right/
Mr Vasquez criticises that Picardo, a Hassans lawyer, appointed Mr Peter Montegriffo, another Hassans lawyer, as the new Chairman of the Gibraltar Police Authority. This is indeed alarming and might negatively affect the way in way my complaint will be dealt with by the GPA.

I have therefore decided to contact a big level of oversight on my complaint, including an investigative journalist from the UK, who made programs for BBC Panorama and other reputable media outlets and who has 30 years experience as a lawyer. I will keep the UK Government up to date, who have already twice intervened with Picardo for his shenanigans against me. All important Human Rights NGOs in the UK will be kept in the loop. It is completely unacceptable that Entain and the Chief Minister conspire together to have a simple employment court case sabotaged and make it last more than 7 years and that the RGP volunteers to get involved in such practices.

I wish to be kept informed of all steps of the investigation. I give my consent for you to pass the information contained in this complaint to the Professional Standards Department of the RGP in connection with the investigation of this complaint.

I believe that the facts stated in this complaint are true.

Bart Van Thienen

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