Gathering Called in Donostia to Support Victims of Patxi Ezkiaga's Abuses

Former students of La Salle will meet on Saturday in the Loiola neighborhood to denounce the school's stance.

Gathering in Loiola neighborhood of Donostia to support victims of sexual abuse by Patxi Ezkiaga.
IA

Gathering in Loiola neighborhood of Donostia to support victims of sexual abuse by Patxi Ezkiaga.

Former students of the La Salle school have organized a gathering in Donostia on Saturday, April 9, 2026, to express support for the victims of sexual abuse committed by former teacher Patxi Ezkiaga and to criticize the educational institution's response.

The event will take place at 12:00 PM in the Loiola neighborhood, under the slogan “We are with the victims, and La Salle?”. The aim of the call is to offer “unwavering solidarity” to the victims and to denounce the school's attitude in this case.
Four associations have joined the concentration: the Navarre Association of Abuse Victims (AVA), the association against child sexual abuse Lulacris, the Spanish Association for Stolen Childhood (ANIR), and the Spanish Justice Initiative. After the gathering, a former student and ANIR spokesperson, Ciro Molina, will deliver a few words.
The sexual abuses by Patxi Ezkiaga came to light at the end of May 2024, following the disclosure of Marisol Zamora's case. Since then, 26 testimonies have been collected from individuals who suffered abuses between the ages of 8 and 17. These incidents occurred from 1980 onwards, when the school became co-educational.
The victims turned to the Ararteko (Ombudsman) to initiate a process of public recognition and to obtain institutional protection. However, the school announced its adherence to the PRIVA plan, which provides financial compensation to victims when the abuser is deceased or legal action cannot be pursued.
The Ararteko, following mediation between the victims and the La Salle congregation, emphasized the need for “collective, moral, and social reparation.” Given the severity of the sexual abuses, it urged La Salle to go beyond individual compensations and symbolic gestures, asking it to critically review its history and conduct, and to assume institutional and collective responsibility.
Furthermore, it was also reported that former teacher Sebastian Grandmontagne Santamaria, who passed away in 2020, also committed sexual abuses. Four complaints were received: one at the La Salle school in Beasain (Gipuzkoa) in 1971, two at the friary in Irun (Gipuzkoa) in 1973 and between 1973 and 1976, and another at La Salle in Donostia in 1996.