Spanish police investigate woman's claim of being attacked by North African men

Alyssa McMurtry

OVIEDO, Spain (AA) - Basque authorities said Wednesday they are opening an investigation into the veracity of a woman’s allegation who said she was attacked by a group of “young Maghrebis.”

The alleged attack occurred on Oct. 24 in Vitoria, the capital of the Basque Country, when the woman, 30, who reportedly was a candidate for the far-right Vox party in 2015, said she was beaten up by a group of young men from North Africa.

The story was circulated widely and cited by the far-right Vox party as an example of why illegal migrants should be expelled.

“This again. These heartless people were Maghrebis. And they destroyed the face of this young woman for not covering her face,” Vox leader Santiago Abascal had said in a Twitter post. “You made our land a paradise for illegal immigrants. Today women are paying the price.”

But police now suspect the accuser invented the story.

“The police investigation has focused, as it should be, on looking into the information provided by the claimant. However … there hasn’t been a single piece of evidence that confirms her version. The increasingly plausible hypothesis is beginning to emerge that we may be facing a false accusation,” Basque Councilor for Security Josu Erkorek told the media.

Police scoured CCTV camera footage from the highly surveilled area as well as other evidence and have come up empty-handed, he said.

The investigations into the alleged crime, as well as the false accusations, are both ongoing.