Do you remember the Spanish cartoon controversy?. Of course you do. Two cartooners for the satirical Spanish cartoon magazine El Jueves were accused of making fun of the royal family with a cover which showed the crown prince having…relations, let’s say, with his wife. So you could say that they WERE making fun of the royal family, which happens to be a crime in Spain. Yesterday, they were found GUILTY, according to this story in the UK Telegraph and artist Guillermo Torres and writer Manel Fontdevila were fined €3000 each.

Judge José María Vázquez Honrubia ruled that the two men “vilified the Crown in the most gratuitous and unnecessary way”. He said that they could serve 10 months house arrest if they refused to pay.

The public prosecutor, Miguel Angel Carballo, had demanded a fine of €6,000 each.

The duo has said they will appeal, but they seem to be enjoying the notoriety in the photo above.

If you keep reading this Telegraph piece, you get some bonus snark. According to the paper, “Spain has developed the most lurid pornography in Europe, with magazines and television shows dedicated to the sex lives of the rich and famous.” We also learn that

The cartoonists’ skill in poking fun at the ruling classes was perhaps nowhere better expressed than during their golden age in Britain between about 1780 and 1820.

The greatest exponents were James Gillray and Thomas Rowlandson, whose main target was Napoleon Bonaparte.

so take that Ted Rall!