Many of you may not have heard a word about this issue, so let us tell you this little story. Since its creation in 1990, Egunkaria (”Newspaper” in Euskara) was the name of the only newspaper that published 100% in Euskara, and was sold in both Spanish and French sides of Euskal Herria.
In 2003, the Spanish Civil Guard on orders from the Spanish National High Court raided the newspaper's offices, seized documents and computers, and froze the newspaper's assets. In addition, ten individuals who were or had been members of staff were arrested in dawn raids and held. The reason? The newspaper and its editors were presumably part of the ETA scheme.
A year later, Egunkaria’s editors in chief were arrested for forming an "illegal association" at the time of the newspaper's establishment, and for "membership of, or collaboration with, ETA". When released, the editors claimed to have been tortured by the Police. The newspaper was also effectively forced into liquidation as its assets were sold off by court-appointed administrators, meaning that regardless of the outcome of the case, Egunkaria had ceased to exist forever.
In 2010, the final and unanimous sentence by the Criminal Court of the Spanish National High Court stated that there was no grounds to have the newspaper closed. The sentence confirmed that "the narrow and erroneous view according to which everything that has to do with the Basque language and with culture in that language is promoted and/or controlled by ETA leads to an incorrect assessment of facts and figures, and to the inconsistency of the accusation." It goes on to note that the closure was an "interference with press freedom". The editors were cleared of all charges and the sentence declared that "the allegations have not proven that the defendants have the slightest relation with ETA."
Notwithstanding the 2010 sentence, no responsibilities have been cleared by 2016 for having a newspaper closed on no grounds during seven years.