In a note made public on 18 December, the Ararteko, a citizen defender of Araba, Bizkaia and Gipuzkoa, has spoken before the Basque Government’s Department of Security to point out that the Ertzaintza must ensure care in Basque.

There's a fact behind it. Two residents of Donostia-San Sebastian have filed a complaint about sexual assault in the Guipuzkoan capital. There is no indication when this has happened. Ararteko believes that the two neighbours denounced inadequate treatment by an Ertzaintza patrol. According to the complaint, these two citizens, who had asked the Ertzaintza to be treated in Basque time and again, did not listen to them. Moreover, this patrol called a police van, who mobilized five alternate ertzaines, who were deployed in the vicinity of the police station. These two citizens were fined EUR 602.

Ararteko has requested information from the Basque Government ' s Department of Security and has concluded that the action of the Ertzaines and the physical examination carried out can be regarded as vexatious treatment and, therefore, there should be no legal basis for fines.

The Ararteko, through this note, has conveyed to the Basque Government the need to respect the linguistic rights of citizens and the obligation of the administration to attend to official languages, "especially in public contexts". Ararteko has explicitly called for strengthening language training in this field of policing with the aim of strengthening equal rights.