Altsasu incident (2016)

The relatives of the youngsters condemned and their defense lawyer Amaia Izko, despite saluting the reduction of sentences, considered they did not tie in with the actual circumstances, highlighting the "lack of guarantees during the process" and the "artificial account of the events".

The interior minister Jorge Fernández Díaz stepped in, labelling it "a hate crime", but an isolated incident, "not kale borroka", also stating that the aggression "proves the town is gripped by a social pathology".

On 1 June 2018, the sentence was announced, with the National Court eventually dismissing the terrorism charges and finding the accused guilty of injuring and attacking an agent of the authority, aggravated with abuse of superiority, discrimination and public disorders and threats.

[The sentence shows] absolute contempt for the principle of justice, it is completely disproportionate; it is about revenge, with the clear aim of generating pain.The heavy-handed approach of the public prosecutor and the judge to the defendants has led to a rise in the explicit support of the main ETA victims' associations, Ciudadanos and the Spanish Conservatives in office, as they see a link to an "ETA strategy" in the alleged assault based on Civil Guard reports.

[33] On 18 April 2018, approximately 2,500 people attended a meeting held in Pamplona called by several parties (PP, UPN, PSN and Ciudadanos) and two ETA victims associations to show their support to the Civil Guard officers and girlfriends subject of the aggression, also bitterly criticizing the Navarrese government for their stance on the issue.

[34][35] On 1 June, the main Civil Guard association AUGC hailed the sentences imposed on the defendants in the hope that this will "reduce hostility" towards the paramilitary police body and "improve cohabitation".

[38][c] Elsewhere, the case has caused outrage and perplexity among many political, social and institutional sectors in Altsasu, Navarre, and the Basque Country in general, with many calling into question the official account of events.

[39][40][41][30][42][43] In July 2017, 52 MEPs affiliated to five different parliamentary groups signed a public document requesting the intervention in the case of the president of the European Commission Jean-Claude Junker "for the sake of proportionality, equity and justice", emphasizing that the state prosecutor's prison term petition was "disproportionate, nonsensical and antidemocratic".

Also in June 2018, the one-time magistrate of the National Court Baltasar Garzón called the whole process an 'embarrassment' spurred by an urge to satisfy the grudges or wishes for revenge held by certain sectors in Spain, using the judiciary for the purpose.

[47] Similarly, football coach Pep Guardiola criticized in June 2019 the 900-day imprisonment of the perpetrators and the Spanish state's alleged meddling in this and other cases, like those arrested in relation to the Catalan process.

The mayor of Pamplona Joseba Asiron, on behalf of the Local Council, and Maria Solana, the representative of the regional government, attended the protest, which was also supported by the unions LAB, ELA, CC.OO and the parties in office at Navarre.

[55][56] The rally, probably the largest held at Pamplona in recent times, received wide support from political personalities (PNV, EH Bildu, Podemos, etc.

[65] They were followed by PP and Vox, delivering a hardline message against pro-independence advocates amidst a tense atmosphere and claiming their right to speak in the town.

While addressing a speech to their followers, the town bells started to chime for the whole duration of the event, accompanied at times by a siren and a rock concert which had been staged nearby.

[66] On the eve of the National Court's announcement of the sentence in March 2019, Popular Party leader Pablo Casado visited the bar in Altsasu where the assault took place in order to take part in a TV interview.

The interviewer, a well-known, controversial Spanish journalist, stated that "25 pro-ETA thugs" ('proetarras') were lurking outside, with the Civil Guard's intervention eventually saving Casado, him and his crew, although available footage clearly disputes such claims.

[67] In December 2020, the miniseries Altsasu produced by Baleuko was aired on the public Basque language TV station ETB, based on the case and the 450-page transcription of the process, as stated by its director Asier Urbieta.