Spain's National Court on Wednesday acquitted two journalists and a caricaturist of insulting King Juan Carlos by alleging that he had chased a drunken bear in Russia, reported dpa.
Two of the accused created a photomontage published in 2006 by the Basque newspaper Deia, which showed a drunken-looking Juan Carlos with an equally drunken bear leaning on a wine barrel.
The tame bear had been given vodka to make it easier for the king to shoot it, the caricature claimed in a reference to unconfirmed press reports quoting Russian sources.
The third accused called the king "irresponsible" in an article on the bear chase.
The court rejected the requests of prosecutors seeking a fine of nearly 11,000 euros (16,000 dollars) for each of the accused.
They had used "humiliating" expressions "unnecessary in exercising the freedom of expression," but there was no evidence that they had deliberately sought to insult the monarch, the court said.