Dozens of people met today, Thursday, at 9:30 a.m. before the Courts of Vitoria, while a Tubacex worker was being tried inside. This is the second time a worker of the company has been tried for the strike that ended in October 2021 and has been sentenced to 21 months in prison for attack and resistance to command. The out-of-court case calls for an acquittal for this Tubacex worker and for the rest of the defendants and claims that ‘labour struggle is not a crime’. Another 6 people will be tried before the strike events and, overall, they threaten 20 years of imprisonment.

The protesters explain that the Tubacex worker who has been tried today was arrested in the context of the first "burden" of the Ertzainas. The worker launched a tobacco pack in the direction of the Ertzainas, without reaching them, and then 4 Ertzainas rebelled over him, beat him and caused him a permanent injury. From the testimonies of the Ertzainas, the worker is accused of 'attack and resistance'.

Aintzane Mendia, a Tubacex worker, explains that during the Tubacex strike they were arrested, beaten and fined by the Ertzaines. The mountain itself was the first person tried for the last strike and was acquitted in November last year. In a video it was clear that what the Ertzainas were accusing him was not true, and the judge also reflected in the sentence a case of police assembly. These Ertzainas, as Hala Bedi has known, have not received any other sanction for lying.

Aintzane Mendia explained that with what they have tried today they will judge seven people on the occasion of the strike, three are workers from companies and four are workers from other companies in the region who fought for the strike. In the case of the workers of the company, he explains that there are videos explaining the situation, which will help in the trial, but in the case of the residents of Ayala no, and that ‘it will be more difficult to prove their innocence’. Indeed, Mendia mentioned that ‘they have hit harder’ people who are not Tubacex workers. This difference is perceived as a mechanism of criminalization of solidarity with the labor struggle. There is a criminal request of 4 years and 7 months in relation to a piquet that did not participate. Mendia explains that when they arrived at Piket they were arrested and that is why there is no video of them.

Today in Gasteiz, the Ertzainas fighting platform has been mobilised and once again manifested its intention to cut the tramway. In the face of this, Aintzane Mendia has denounced the double standard, as the Tubacex workers “hit hard” when they cut off the tram during the strike season, and now they receive no hindrance to the Ertzaines who are working. He says it is an injustice for a judge to say that ‘they can do’ when others beat us.