The Basque separatist group Euskadi Ta Askatasuna (ETA) prepared an attack on the then King of Spain Juan Carlos I in the summer of 1995. As a proponent of the former fascist government and representative, perceived by the ETA as a "suppressor of the Basque", he was the organization's goal. In the ensuing trial of the suspects, they denounced the king as the chief perpetrator of the "oppression" of the Basques; they called for a vote on the independence demands of ETA.