In 1996, Gutiérrez was charged with violating Moroccan King Hassan II’s “right to maintain his honor,” after his now defunct newspaper, Diario 16, published a story about the seizure of five tons of hashish inside a truck belonging to the Moroccan Royal Crown. Even though the story quoted police sources and was proven to be accurate, the defendant was found guilty and sentenced by Spanish courts.

In April, Gutiérrez took his case to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) after exhausting all legal remedies in Spain, including the country’s top court, the Constitutional Court.

The two laws that were used against Gutiérrez, inherited or adapted from the Franco dictatorship, place the burden of proving truth or falsity upon the defendant. Also, by these laws not only the author of the article is incriminated but also the editor-in-chief and the publishing company as well, in what is known as the "cascade effect."

WAN calls on the European Court of Human Rights to declare the case null and void, to reinstate Gutiérrez’s good name, to urge the Spanish State to eliminate the two laws that were used to indict and sentence him, and to call on the Spanish State to financially compensate him after more than a decade of unjust judicial harassment.