What the Truth Hides: The Asunta Case

Sunday, 22nd of September 2013 at 01:40 am, the body of 13-year-old Asunta Yong Fang Basterra Porto is discovered in the outskirts of Santiago de Compostela, Spain. From the first moment of the investigation, her parents Rosario Porto and Alfonso Basterra become the main suspects and are soon imprisoned and accused of their daughter’s murder. Two years later, the court in the same city of Santiago de Compostela delivers a guilty verdict, but behind the scenes, recruiting a public jury of peers has proven challenging, as many candidates decline to participate due to feeling influenced by the widespread media publicity about the case. An exploration of the presumption of innocence, condemnation by implication and the role of the mass media in public jury trials.