Alsasua, a town in the Spanish province of Navarre, was the scene of a bar fight on October 15, 2016, between several young people and two agents of the Guardia Civil who were off duty and accompanied by their partners. As a result of the fight, one of the agents suffered a broken ankle that required surgery, while his companions suffered minor injuries. Allegedly, during the fight, the agents were repeatedly told that their presence in the town was not appreciated and that they should leave Navarre. Two people were immediately arrested and brought before an investigating judge in Pamplona, the capital of Navarre.

On October 18, 2016, a complaint was filed by an association of victims of terrorism before the Audiencia Nacional (the central national court with exclusive jurisdiction over terrorism offences), arguing that the aforementioned facts could amount to terrorist offences and hate crimes. As a result of this complaint, the Audiencia Nacional initiated proceedings on October 25, and the investigating judge of Pamplona deferred to the Audiencia Nacional on November 8, 2016.

An appeal against investigating judge's decision to defer was lodged before the Court of Appeal of Navarre. The Court of Appeal reversed the deferral decision of the Pamplona judge and ordered the him to refer the question to the Supreme Court for a ruling on jurisdiction. On June 1, 2017, the Supreme Court ruled that the Audiencia Nacional was exclusively competent to investigate the facts that had taken place in Alsasua, as it considered there was prima facie evidence of the existence of terrorist offences.

On July 5, 2017, eight people were formally accused of acts of terrorism for their alleged participation in the bar fight in Alsasua.

Provisional measures: pre-trial detention

On November 14, 2016, ten people were detained in different locations of Navarre and the Basque Country and transferred to the Audiencia Nacional. The investigating judge of the Audiencia Nacional ordered the pre-trial detention of three of them, who have since then been detained in different prisons in Madrid, under a special supervision and control regime by prison services (known as the FIES – the “Ficheros de Internos de Especial Seguimiento” (Lists of Inmates to be Specially Supervised)

Charges brought by the prosecutor

In his July 5 indictment, the prosecutor argues that the facts of the event in the bar amount to the following offenses:

• four offenses of terrorism resulting in injury;
• two offenses of terrorist threats.

The prosecutor also argued that the facts could, alternatively, be defined as the following:

• an offense of terrorism-related public disorder;
• an offense of assault against an authority;
• four offenses of bodily injury;
• two offenses of terrorist threats.

The prosecutor established terrorist intent due to the fact that some of the accused had previously participated in the activities of a social movement that advocates for the removal from Navarre of the state’s police forces (Guardia Civil and Policía Nacional). The prosecutor argued in court that this is also one of the long-standing claims of the terrorist group ETA.

Therefore, according to the prosecutor, the fact that some of the people who allegedly took part in the bar fight on October 15, 2016, had in the past participated in the activities of a non-violent social movement, whose principal claim coincides with one of the traditional claims of ETA, is sufficient to conclude that there was a terrorist intent.

The prosecutor requests penalties amounting to 50 years' imprisonment for seven of the accused and a 62-year sentence for one of them.

Human rights concerns

Rights International Spain is concerned that the National Court's decision to pursue terrorism charges for the acts described above represents a disproportionate judicial action . The arguments presented by the prosecutor in the indictment to reason the existence of intentionality are extremely weak, thus failing to provide support for his conclusion. In addition, similar acts that have occurred in other parts of Spain (outside the Basque Country or Navarre) against police officers have received different judicial treatment. This raises questions of potential discrimination in this case.

The defense lawyers have criticised the Audiencia Nacional's refusal of their requests for evidence (videos, witnesses, photographs, etc.) while admitting practically all the expert and documentary evidence that the prosecutor has requested. The inadmissibility of almost all the evidence raised by the defense is a violation of the right to effective judicial protection and to a fair trial.