SIX young adults are facing prison and hefty fines for 'occupying' an uninhabited village in ruins in the province of Guadalajara (Castilla-La Mancha).
Deep in the heart of the Sierra Norte nature reserve and down a never-used forestry track, the hamlet of Fraguas was last occupied in the 1960s after the State, under General Franco's dictatorship, expropriated the entire village and forced its 40 inhabitants out.
It has only been used briefly for a few days in the 1990s for Army training.
Two women – Isa and Mila – and four men, Dani, Javi, Isato and Lalo, all city-dwellers, wanted to escape to the country and live a healthier, more natural existence.
They rebuilt three of the ruined houses in Fraguas using traditional construction materials – stone, mud-brick and wood – and techniques, restoring them to how they would have looked until the exodus.
They set up an allotment to grow their own fruit and vegetables, a pump in a well fed by a natural spring for their water supply, and solar panels for electricity.
The group has been living there peacefully for five years, but have now been ordered to leave and to pay the costs of 'un-restoring' the ruins, and could even face up to four-and-a-half years in jail.
MP for Guadalajara Alberto Rojo says it is not a case of wanting to lock them up, but the fact that they are living permanently in a green-belt area 'cannot be overlooked'.
Their solicitor, Erlantz Ibarrondo, says the group have done no harm, have respected the natural environment and have even repaired the forestry track with their bare hands.
Read more at thinkSPAIN.com