Costa Blanca

ETA member who was accused of planting a bomb at Alicante airport acquitted

Iratxe Sorzábal, a former commander of the ETA, has been acquitted by the National Court of the charge of placing an explosive device at the Alicante-Elche airport. Tedax deactivated the device, and the prosecution requested a six-year penitentiary sentence for the unsuccessful attack.

The primary piece of evidence was a handwritten letter that the Public Prosecutor’s Office attributes to Iratxe Sorzábal. The letter acknowledges the facts. The sentence states that the authorities issued a handwriting expert report that analysed several documents discovered in France, including the “kantada” that was attributed to the defendant. The Chamber further states that “this handwriting expert report, dated May 20, 2008, was ratified in the investigation phase before the Court; however, the Public Prosecutor’s Office did not propose it as evidence subsequently.” Consequently, the court emphasises that this discrepancy was the result of the absence of substantiation for a critical piece of information, namely the authorship report.

The court stated that it cannot be regarded as evidence against the defendant because it was not brought to trial and has not been subjected to a contradiction between the parties.

The court also considered the fact that Iratxe Sorzábal’s defence had explicitly challenged the report, claiming that she did not recognise the document as her own and had not written it.

The court also underscores that the authors of the police intelligence report, which analysed the existence and components of ETA’s Ibarla commando, its activities, and the details of the assaults it committed, were not proposed to testify at the trial. The existence and components of ETA’s Ibarla commando were analysed in this report, which was compared to documents discovered in France.

The ruling cautions that the report could have provided insight into the potential authorship of the explosives placed at the Alicante airport, in contrast to the defendant’s denial of any involvement.

Iratxe Sorzábal, who served her initial sentence in France in the late 1990s for her involvement with ETA, was extradited to Spain in 2001. Despite her efforts to avert the extradition through a hunger strike, which she defended by citing the potential for mistreatment by Spanish law enforcement, she was extradited.

Following her release in September 2001, she re-entered ETA and was apprehended in 2015 in France, this time in the company of erstwhile ETA leader David Pla.

For the first time in Spain, she was sentenced to 24 and a half years in prison in 2022 for a double assault that occurred in November 1996 in Gijón, targeting the Palace of Justice and a pharmacy.

The National Court reopened the investigation into the 1996 murder of Montxo Doral, a non-commissioned officer of Ertzaintza. The Basque Autonomous Police have attributed the crime to a commando unit under the command of Sorzabal.

In June 2006, the Paris Criminal Court sentenced her in absence to three years in prison for her membership in ETA’s political apparatus. She was again sentenced in her absence in 2013 at the trial in which her daughter’s father, former ETA leader Mikel Carrera Sarobe Ata, was sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of two Guardia Civil officers in Capbreton in 2007.

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Related Topics:Airport Alicante Assault Attack Court Crime Documents Elche Murder National Police Public Spain Strike

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Elche companies swindle a million euros in subsidies

A business network in Elche has been dismantled, and four individuals have been arrested for defrauding over one million euros in public subsidies from the Valencian Government and the European Social Fund to promote employment. They spent the funds on high-end cars and used them for unrelated purposes.

The investigators became suspicious when the companies promptly dismissed the contracted workers, voluntarily resigned, or ceased operations.

The fictitious contracts were identified as a result of a complaint submitted by the Valencian Employment and Training Service (LABORA) to the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office regarding potential irregularities.

Public aid was exploited by structured fraud to facilitate the employment of qualified personnel and vulnerable individuals. Despite the initial formalisation of employment contracts, they frequently failed to satisfy regulatory mandates.

The Urban and Economic Crimes Team of the Organic Judicial Police Unit of the Guardia Civil of Alicante has been conducting an analysis of the traceability of the money received for nearly a year. The team has identified transfers between bank accounts associated with the individuals involved and diversions to personal expenditures.

In April of last year, a search of the group leader’s private residence in Elche, as well as certain offices that are still in use in the city’s technology park, turned up €9,000 in cash, a high-end vehicle, and various pertinent documents. The authorities also seized properties and accounts.

The court presented the four detainees and released them after taking precautionary measures against the alleged leader.

They face accusations of money laundering, contract execution failure, membership in a criminal organisation, and subsidy fraud.

The Civil Guard has emphasised the institutional collaboration necessary to combat this type of fraud, stating that “the investigation was conducted under the direction of the Prosecutor’s Office against Corruption and Organised Crime of the Alicante Provincial Prosecutor’s Office, with the collaboration of LABORA.”

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Costa Blanca

Elche renews the five blue flags on its beaches

The five Blue Flags at Arenales del Sol, Carabassí, El Altet, La Marina, and Les Pesqueres-El Rebollo have been renewed by the Elche City Council.

Tourism Councillor Irene Ruiz expressed her enthusiasm for the awards’ renewal, emphasising that “Elche’s beaches are the stars once again this year.” She also emphasised that this distinction underscores the quality, management, services, and safety that all of the beaches provide.

Annually, the Association for Environmental and Consumer Education (ADEAC) awards blue flags as one of the quality and environmental certification distinctions. This designation is based on a variety of criteria, including environmental management, water quality, swimmer safety, beach services, and environmental information and education.

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The towns with the highest crime rate in Alicante province

Although the Ministry of the Interior’s most recent data indicates a slight decrease in crime in Spain during 2024, the Crime Report also documents an increase in certain serious crimes, including intentional homicides and completed murders, which have increased by 4.5%, and sexual assaults with penetration, which have increased by 6.7%.

In comparison to the conventional crime rate, this amounts to 41.0 crimes per thousand inhabitants. Additionally, the report offers a detailed analysis of the various offences and the number of reported cases in each municipality. Statistics in the province of Alicante set it apart.

In 2024, the city of Alicante in the Valencian Community province was the municipality with the highest crime rate, with a total of 20,577 cases recorded. Following it are Torrevieja with 8,337, Elche with 8,132, and Benidorm with 5,167. Nevertheless, it is crucial to bear in mind that the provincial capital has a significantly higher population than the remainder of the municipality.

Kidnapping is one of the most egregious crimes in this region. In the province of Alicante, there were 8 of the 13 cases that occurred throughout the Valencian Community. Alicante reported three cases, Benidorm reported one, Calp reported one, Pilar de la Horadada reported one, Crevillent reported one, and Torrevieja reported one.

The province reported a total of 1,145 cases of narcotic trafficking. Last year, Benidorm reported 171 cases of this form of crime, making it the second most notable town after Alicante, which reported 352 cases. There are also villages and cities where fewer than 10 cases have been reported, including Calp (2), Ibi (3), Sant Joan d’Alacant (4), Novelda (4), Villajoyosa (6), Almoradí (7), Mutxamel (7), Alcoy (8 cases), Petrer (8), and San Vicente del Raspeig (9).

The province has a total of 1,008 transgressions against sexual freedom, as listed in the Interior Ministry report. This category encompasses sexual assault and abuse that involves penetration, with a total of 222 cases reported last year. Villena, Petrer, and Ibi are among the municipalities that have not recorded any cases. However, Alicante, Elche, and Benidorm have higher numbers: 52, 30, and 19 cases, respectively.