Every day there has been a great animation in front of the Palace of Justice. At around 9:15 p.m., the defendants are firmly on their way to the court, with the shouts and applause of dozens of people from the Carpinteria Solidarity Committee. At the end the reception is even warmer. On Friday, the last day, the incursions of the defendants have been warmer than usual, and the truth is that they would have needed it because everything changes as they enter the corridors of the Palace of Justice, and especially today: after four days of trial, the parties have explained their conclusions.

The prosecution has begun as meticulously as the sword and has maintained all the initial accusations: one year in prison for each defendant for forming a criminal group, and 22 months in prison for the crime of coercion or violence. What is contained in the following lines is not what he has literally said – many things, however – but a summary of the constructed story. Here's what it is: “Two or more people are needed to form a criminal group, and as we have seen and demonstrated here these days, the defendants form a criminal group because they have clearly exceeded the limits of civil disobedience.”

“At the beginning – the prosecutor continues – they tried to stop the Carpinteria project through legal channels, institutions, mobilizations... but seeing that this was not enough, then they have chosen the path of threat, insult, sabotage and violence. This is where the crime begins. As we have seen in the videos and interviews, they clearly show that they are ready to get to the end to stop the carpentry project.”

“To do this they have two groups, some of which carry out peaceful actions and others violent, but it is the same group, with the same objective. Here we have processed seven of them, but there are many more. As we have seen very clearly in the trial, their leader is Garbiñe Elizegi, who gives orders to others, determines how to act in the media and videos and what they will do. It is the work of Azar, Eñaut, Eki, and Gorka."

“They have repeatedly committed the crime of coercion against workers because it is violent to coerce someone else to do something they do not want. The workers wanted to work and they didn’t leave them with threats, insults, or paintings.” And he refers to the jurisprudence to determine that often this coercion or violence can also arise from silence, “with the strength of the group.”

On April 21, Itziar Torres threatened José Mari Martín, a layman and a carpentry worker, although on Thursday it became clear that he was not in Lekaroz that day; and that on another occasion, Salvador Urbistondo, a partner of Palacio de Aroztegia SL, was also told that “you will leave here with your feet in front of you”, although he did not specify who told him. In his opinion, we saw all these events that bring together the characteristics of the criminal group in the interviews and videos that were shown on Wednesday. And as proof, he has mentioned in particular the satirical video made by the Aroztak group about the theft of a dumper: “They laugh at the Government of Navarre, the security forces, the worker José Mari...” He mentions that the video shows a poster that says José Mari Kalaka and that on Wednesday the translator did not know how to translate it, but that he believes that “José Mari is a informant”; in previous days he confesses that he does not know Basque.

“Therefore, all defendants are guilty because they mobilize the population, because they are willing to accept anything to stop the works, including threats, violence or whatever. Maybe the latter will not do it themselves, but they plan, organize and direct it.” It also underestimates the value of defence witnesses: “Ernesto Prat and Joseba Otondo are completely partial and have not provided any data on the illegality of the works. Journalists, on the other hand, did not make any contribution.”

“They continue to threaten”

The particular accusation has been much shorter, he said, because he did not have to repeat “what the prosecutor did well.” And he spoke firmly, as the accusation pertains: “Most of the witnesses we have seen here have made it clear that there have been threats, insults, violence... and that everything was organized, it is clear that there is a group. In an interview, Lagunane Ariztegi made it clear that during the camp they organize, with excursions, to carry out cleanings, they make lists for different tasks... And what about the leader? Everyone knows that the mind is led by Garbiñe Elizegi. Carpentry and then what? They say the group no longer exists, but it’s not true, they’re out there [referring to the street support group], and they continue to threaten witnesses.”

He has continued to concatenate the crimes allegedly committed by the defendants: “These days we have seen a lot of evidence of the crimes they have committed, threats, insults, theft and breaking of machines, nails in trees... many of them are very well documented. The workers, Sergio Anibal and José Mari, lived a real fear and had to leave their jobs... there were dozens of people who took advantage of the team’s anger to intimidate the workers.”

“The project is at a standstill”

“No, what has been done is not childish,” emphasizes the second lawyer of the particular accusation. My clients have invested 18 years of their lives in this project and millions of euros. The defense has determined these numbers well with the campaign in nearby media before the trial.” And he has passionately defended the project, devaluing the popular consultation held in Baztan: “This project involves work and a future and it is not true that the whole of Baztan opposes the project, yesterday the defendants determined that 30% participated in the popular consultation, of which 80% were against the project. How much is that, 24% of the total population?”

“We have seen clearly, because they say in the interviews, the tenacity of the defendants to stop the project: both before and now. And they say clearly that if someone else tries to go ahead with the project there, they will act in the same way.” And as for the organization... “but how do you think it can be controlled if the vast land area of 450,000 m2 is not controlled by an organized group? The witnesses have clearly confirmed: “It was an organized group.”

“What is the criminal group: Carpentry and then what? Or the carpenters?

Defense attorney Leire Martin has dismissed the accusations made to some of the defendants because, at the time and time of the events, they were not in the field of the works. These accusations were made by the civil guards who issued the initiation report, “but these have not been present at this trial.” He calls for absolution for his defenders, “whose accusations have not been backed up by what they have done, but by the fact that they were identified in this area in three different forms on three occasions.”

In the case of his defenders, he states that there was also no crime of coercion. “Is it a crime to stand in front of a machine? No, I don't. If the citizens had acted it would have been different to affect the freedom of workers, but on April 8 this did not happen. The citizens listened to the machines, went there to inform and the machine stopped. What's going on? Well, that’s not enough to punish these people, and to give gravity to the accusations they have to link them inexorably to the events that occurred throughout the month of April. There's not enough evidence here to prove that the defendants have come together to do something delicate. What is the criminal group, the Carpenters or the Carpenters and then what? My defenders were in the works during the first two days, on the 8th and 9th, and Aroztak was founded on the 16th of April 2021.” According to Martin, it is not possible to undermine the organization of civil organizations, and he recalls that in the testimony of the first day, even the civil guard recognized that “any civil opposition is organized.”

More places to stay in Beaumont: “They Need Criminal Equipment to Get 43 Million”

The defendants’ lawyer, Josu Beaumont, recalls that the beginning of the works was not legal, “the pliego that regulates the contracting of the works was annulled, and that is why my defenders accessed the works because they started without proper authorization. The company just had to do the pliego again and that’s it, but no, its managers will know why, it didn’t. A little later, at the beginning of May, the resolution of the courts that invalidated the pliego of the company became known.”

The lawyer emphasizes that his defenders have always accepted what they have done, publicly, with statements, in videos, and if they have put someone in danger, it has been their head, without any violence. This is civil disobedience. The first witness of the Civil Guard said clearly: ‘There was civil disobedience in the Crusade, so we didn’t even investigate it.’ But the defendants are judged not by what they have done, but by what they are.”

From the organized group: “Yes, of course, all social movements work and for that they have to organize themselves.” And it brings to the room the mobilizations that last year in Navarre and Pamplona the peasants made with tractors: “Some peasants dragged the Civil Guard cars, cut off traffic, and even tried to enter the Navarrese Parliament over the foresters. But they didn’t name the whole group of peasants as a criminal group, they punished those who committed crimes.”

“Then why are we here? The lawyer continues. It is clear that the majority of Baztan opposes the project. Since 2011, the Baztan City Council has not had a majority joining the project, because in democracies the majority are structured by votes and not by money. In April 2021, the project was not stopped, but the works, and for a maximum of about ten days. The project is really dead because they don’t have the money to get ahead. For this reason, the company of the Carpinteria is immersed in the administrative procedure of payment of compensation of 43 million to the governments of Navarre and Spain. You need a criminal group to do that. If there is a punishment, it will be necessary to prove what the defendants have done, what others have done does not serve that purpose."

“Civil disobedience can make the works stop”

The defendants go out into the street dressed in t-shirts that demand their acquittal and are lost there between hugs. And then they appear in front of the media. They have said aloud that "the use of the Spanish justice system to oppress citizens in history continues today". That they have seen the company and the prosecutor’s office holding hands, “trying to criminalize the popular movement.” It has also been determined that they have “invented a misogynistic, patriarchal and classist tale based on lies” to get 43 million euros from the governments.

“We do not know what the sentence will be,” they continue, “but it is very possible to impose the condemnation of the criminal group in order to pave the way for 43 million euros.” They have also looked beyond the judgment: “We want to emphasize that we have countless reasons to celebrate the struggle we have led as a people. A particularly important achievement has been to make it clear that it is through the power and organization of the popular movement and civil disobedience that it is possible to stop the works of speculative macroprojects.”

And in conclusion, they warn that they will remain vigilant: “As long as the carpentry UGEP is not cancelled, the risk of developing this speculative macro-project remains, and so will our struggle.”