Altsasu incident (2016)

rdf:langString Altsasu incident (2016)

rdf:langString The Altsasu incident is a judicial case against eight young people from Altsasu, a small town in Navarre, Spain, for their involvement in a fight taking place on 15 October 2016 at a bar in which two off-duty Civil Guard officers stationed in the town and their girlfriends sustained injuries. One of the officers was knocked down, with the other victims reported to have suffered "psychological trauma". The lawsuit was initially conducted by the judge of the Spanish special court Audiencia Nacional Carmen Lamela. As of March 2018, Concepción Espejel was appointed as magistrate ahead of the trial held in late April. The case was controversial because the public prosecutor described it was a "terrorist attack" and called for sentences ranging between 12 and 62 years, and for the heavy-handed approach of Spanish Justice in the case, amid allegations of irregularities and lack of neutrality in the proceedings. The National Court dismissed the terrorism charges, but convicted them with sentences ranging from 2 to 13 years. The state prosecutor appealed the sentence in June 2018, insisting on the existence of 'terrorism', but it was again dismissed in March 2019. The final decision to the appeal filed by the detainees' parents on the Supreme Court was issued on 9 October 2019. The convictions were further reduced to sentences ranging from one year and a half to nine years and a half prison terms; two judges out of five issued a dissenting opinion, stating that discrimination charges should have been upheld. 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". All along the process, the parents of the defendants led a campaign for solidarity with the defendants and to denounce the circumstances surrounding the detention and the proceedings, with meetings and large demonstrations taking place across Navarre and the Basque Country overall. The Spanish Socialists, Spanish right-wing political parties and media, as well as Covite, an ETA victims' association, harshly criticized the aggressors, signs of support and the people of Altsasu, besides praising the Civil Guard.