«There are no political prisoners in Spain»

Two days ago, on 2 April, the Spanish High Court upheld a sentence issued by the National Court in which 8 young separatists were sentenced to a prison term of 6 years whilst 7 others were absolved. They were convicted for allegedly being part of a "terrorist organization". There were no more prove than declarations made under torture and some personal items that police found at detainees' homes, such as DVDs and banners of SEGI, a Basque youth independentist movement in which they were involved according to the ruling issued by the court.

Though Segi has been labelled as a terrorist organization by the Spanish goverment (they blame it for being ETA's youth movement), none of the convicted has been sentenced for commiting violent actions such as "Kale borroka". In fact, the court was only investigating them for their political activities as members of this separatist group also linked to Abertzale left. However, those absolved are being investigating for their supposed participation in violent protests.
Moreover, Basque autonomous police Ertzaintza has implemented a crackdown this morning on the 8 recently sentenced and people who had gathered in Donostia to support them close to the city hall, beating some of the demonstrators. They have finally detained Ekaitz Ibero, one of the absolved who had been previously convicted for his supposed participation in actions of Kale Borroka.

Whereas Spain continues claiming that there are no political prisoners in the country, politicians like Arnaldo Otegi remain in prison for his exclusively political activities. He and other 5 people were sentenced to long jail terms (initially 10 years, but their prison term was reduced to 6 years after an appeal) for their will to rebuild a Basque separatist political party amidst the so-called Bateragune lawsuit. Furthermore, some Basque independentist parties like Sortu have been recently legalized and allowed to concur at elections. In spite of that, these parties are often threatened with illegalization in application of a law dated from 2003 to prosecute any political formation allegedly tied to ETA.
What is more, the crackdown in Donostia follows a series of beatings and claims of torture by some Basque prisoners linked to the terrorist group, who have been applied harsh prison terms and frequently harassed for being involved in ETA. Moreover, two prisoners have recently death while serving their jail terms, one of them, Xabier López Peña, in strange circumstances. In fact, they are often forced to serve their terms in jails outside the Basque Country, which commits their relatives and friends to make long and sometimes dangerous journeys for a 40-minute visit. Thus it causes a great pain not only to the prisoners, but also to their families. Gari Garaialde explained graphically the meaning of dispersion in this video on one of his journeys from Zarautz (his hometown) to Alacant prison.

Given all these circumstances, no one should be able to deny that there are Basque political prisoners in both Spain and France. They are treated different from others for the crimes they have commited, so even the security forces and authorities give them a political reason. That is something which has to change so that Basques can build a durable peace and a scenario of convivence, thus rebuilding a society which has been involved in a political conflict for decades.