Alleged Culprits: The Other Altsasu

After four years in prison, the people convicted of a bar fight with Guardia Civil officers break their silence. They travel to Catalonia to expose other cases of judicial repression and accusations of terrorism against pro-independence supporters, and to repay the solidarity they have received.

After spending almost four years in prison for a bar fight, the people of Altsasu break their silence. And they do so on TV3’s Sense Ficció to denounce other cases of judicial repression, accusations of terrorism against activists and police set-ups which continue to happen in Spain, despite the wave of indignation and protests that their imprisonment provoked. They are the other Altsasus.

Adur Ramírez de Alda and Jokin Unamuno have already been granted the third degree and are serving their sentences under telematic bracelet surveillance. Like the rest of the people convicted of attacks on authorities, injuries, public disorder and threats against off-duty Guardia Civil officers and their partners in October 2016 in Navarre, they are trying to rebuild their lives. Today, they want to stand up for themselves, they want to defend themselves from the media lynching and refute the accusations of terrorism that sentenced them to up to 62 years in prison. Until now, their lawyers, family and friends have spoken for them

After spending 1,326 days in prison and facing Judges Lamela and Espeiel in the National Court, how have their lives changed? Are they still pro-independence and demanding that the Spanish police leave the Basque Country? When in court, is the word of a policeman always worth more than that of an activist? How does one go, in just one night, from being an anonymous young person to being the face of the anti-repression struggle of an entire generation? How did they experience the 1^st of October referendum and the imprisonment and exile of the Generalitat government from their cells? Are some state bodies still reluctant to stop exploiting the doctrine of everything that ETA is, and anything that goes against ETA? How has the Altsasu case affected the Basque peace process and reconciliation, now that it has been 10 years since the end of the armed struggle?

In Alleged Culprits, Ramírez de Alda and Unamuno travel to Catalonia to repay the solidarity they have received and to support other victims of reprisals, such as the Committees for the Defense of the Republic, who were accused of terrorism in Operation Judas, or arrested on the 23^rd of September 2019. During a tour of the Lledoners and Wad-Ras prisons, the Via Laietana police station, and the Sant Cebrià de Vallalta and Dosrius schools (which suffered police charges on the 1^st of October referendum), the young people from Altsasu talk to Marcel Vivet, sentenced to five years in prison for protesting against the Jusapol; Xènia Garcia, imprisoned during the protests against the sentencing of the ‘Procés’ leaders, and Jordi Cuixart, president of Òmnium Cultural, among others. They meet the faces of the oppressed, such as that activists of the PAH, and the Union of Tenants (Sindicat de Llogaters i Llogateres), who have accumulated more than €200,000 in fines as well as prison sentences.

This documentary also reflects on the politicisation and the low perception of independence of the Spanish justice system and the police model, with the participation of the main judges’ associations, the teaching staff of the judicial school and representatives of the European Commission, the Mossos d’Esquadra and their trade unions.