Spain is about to begin a new political trial against Basque separatism. According to an information published on 3 June by Basque digital newspaper Naiz, Spanish National Court has taken another step to start the trial for the 35/02 summary against former Basque separatist party Batasuna, which was banned by former judge Baltasar Garzón in 2002. Therefore, the judge has admitted all the evidences issued by the prosecution and some by the defence, paving the way for the trial. Indeed, the court must set a date for its celebration within the next days thus ending a summary which has lasted more than ten years.
After the government banned Batasuna, former judge Garzón ordered the closure of 75 "herriko taberna" (bars of the people), a network of bars owned by Basque separatists which was allegedly linked to "ETA-KAS-Ekin" framework. He also charged 40 people on being part of the terrorist band although none of them had taken part in any violent action. Despite of that, they face lengthy prison terms if convicted. For instance, Joseba Permach, Rufi Etxeberria and Arnaldo Otegi, currently in prison, could be sentenced to up to 12 years if found guilty. The whole list of people who have been charged can be seen here (note: Basque word "urte" means "years" in English).
Simultaneously, Spanish Constitutional Court has refused to release Otegi and other four Basque politicians who are serving a six years and a half prison term whilst the appeal their lawyers issued is being resolved. They were convicted for "ETA membership, degree of leadership" for having tried to rebuild a new framework for Basque separatism through Bateragune project, whose purpose was to replace banned party Batasuna. However, the Supreme Court already overturned the verdict issued by the National Court which sentenced them to 10 years after no evidence was found supporting the allegation that they were leading ETA although it considered that Bateragune obeyed direct orders issued by the terrorist band.
In addition, the Supreme court estimated that the four convicted were not involved in that project, so that the accusation against them has no basis. They have been sentenced for a crime that actually never existed but, in spite of that, the Constitutional court refused to suspend their prison term because of the length of the prison terms they are serving. The court also justifies this temporary resolution on the reason that victims of terrorism deserve their rights to be respected, forgeting that Basque separatist left (particularly Otegi himself) played a key role on the end of any violent activity that ETA stated in October 2011.
Given all those circumstances, Otegi and the others must be released as soon as possible. Their imprisonment obeys only to political purposes and has proven totally unlawful. So do the charges against Joseba Permach and the others involved in lawsuit 35/02. Both cases are part of a strategy launched by Baltasar Garzón in 2002 whose main purpose was to link any aspect of Basque separatism or the fight for cultural and social rights for the Basque Country to terrorism. The main example was the closure of the Basque newspaper Egunkaria in 2003 and subsequent detention of its board of redaction. All the detainees were firstly sentenced but finally absolved because of the lack of evidences to support that they were collaborating with ETA. All of them claimed that they endured torture during detention. All the information regarding this case can be found in English here. On the other hand, he has been repeatedly accused of misinvestigating the complaints of detainees linked to ETA or Basque separatism regarding the way they were treated by the police during their time under custody.
Moreover, Baltasar Garzón was convicted for corruption and departed from judiciary in 2012. He had been in the middle of a huge polemic because of his intention to investigate the crimes committed by Franco's regime, gaining a lot of enemies. In fact, he has been one of the most controverted Spanish judges and, according to some rumours, he could attend next European election alongside Spanish leftist party Izquierda Unida. Meanwhile, Garzón works as the leader of the defence team of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange.
For all these reasons, nobody can deny that the current cases against Basque separatism have no legitimacy nor basis. In the case of the newest one, because it is based in the instruction made by a person who was convicted on corruption charges. Their unfairness is just an example of how justice is like in Spain.
UPDATE: the trial against Joseba Permach, Arnaldo Otegi and the other nearly 40 people involved in 35/02 summary is set to begin on 17 October, according to reports by several Basque news channels. It is likely to take place at the National Court, where alleged crimes related to terrorism are investigated. In this case, both Dignidad y Justicia (Dignity and Justice) and the Association of Terrorism Victims, which exert the accusation, claim that the network of "herriko taberna" was set to fund ETA's terrorist activities. However, the details explained above give those claims very little reliability, especially given the pressure made by both associations in order to prevent the Spanish government from taking a real commitment to help end the conflict in the Basque Country. It is just another attempt to convict people for their political activities, as well as other similar pocesses that can take place all around the world. Remember: Chinese artist and activist Ai Weiwei was accused of evading taxes, destroying accounting documents and suspected of bigamy, pornography and illegal exchange of foreign currency as well.
After the government banned Batasuna, former judge Garzón ordered the closure of 75 "herriko taberna" (bars of the people), a network of bars owned by Basque separatists which was allegedly linked to "ETA-KAS-Ekin" framework. He also charged 40 people on being part of the terrorist band although none of them had taken part in any violent action. Despite of that, they face lengthy prison terms if convicted. For instance, Joseba Permach, Rufi Etxeberria and Arnaldo Otegi, currently in prison, could be sentenced to up to 12 years if found guilty. The whole list of people who have been charged can be seen here (note: Basque word "urte" means "years" in English).
Simultaneously, Spanish Constitutional Court has refused to release Otegi and other four Basque politicians who are serving a six years and a half prison term whilst the appeal their lawyers issued is being resolved. They were convicted for "ETA membership, degree of leadership" for having tried to rebuild a new framework for Basque separatism through Bateragune project, whose purpose was to replace banned party Batasuna. However, the Supreme Court already overturned the verdict issued by the National Court which sentenced them to 10 years after no evidence was found supporting the allegation that they were leading ETA although it considered that Bateragune obeyed direct orders issued by the terrorist band.
In addition, the Supreme court estimated that the four convicted were not involved in that project, so that the accusation against them has no basis. They have been sentenced for a crime that actually never existed but, in spite of that, the Constitutional court refused to suspend their prison term because of the length of the prison terms they are serving. The court also justifies this temporary resolution on the reason that victims of terrorism deserve their rights to be respected, forgeting that Basque separatist left (particularly Otegi himself) played a key role on the end of any violent activity that ETA stated in October 2011.
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| Arnaldo Otegi, Rafa Díez Usabiaga, Arkaitz Rodríguez, Miren Zabaleta and Sonia Jacinto, the 5 people who are serving lengthy prison terms for allegedly having taken part in Bateragune project. |
Moreover, Baltasar Garzón was convicted for corruption and departed from judiciary in 2012. He had been in the middle of a huge polemic because of his intention to investigate the crimes committed by Franco's regime, gaining a lot of enemies. In fact, he has been one of the most controverted Spanish judges and, according to some rumours, he could attend next European election alongside Spanish leftist party Izquierda Unida. Meanwhile, Garzón works as the leader of the defence team of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange.
For all these reasons, nobody can deny that the current cases against Basque separatism have no legitimacy nor basis. In the case of the newest one, because it is based in the instruction made by a person who was convicted on corruption charges. Their unfairness is just an example of how justice is like in Spain.
UPDATE: the trial against Joseba Permach, Arnaldo Otegi and the other nearly 40 people involved in 35/02 summary is set to begin on 17 October, according to reports by several Basque news channels. It is likely to take place at the National Court, where alleged crimes related to terrorism are investigated. In this case, both Dignidad y Justicia (Dignity and Justice) and the Association of Terrorism Victims, which exert the accusation, claim that the network of "herriko taberna" was set to fund ETA's terrorist activities. However, the details explained above give those claims very little reliability, especially given the pressure made by both associations in order to prevent the Spanish government from taking a real commitment to help end the conflict in the Basque Country. It is just another attempt to convict people for their political activities, as well as other similar pocesses that can take place all around the world. Remember: Chinese artist and activist Ai Weiwei was accused of evading taxes, destroying accounting documents and suspected of bigamy, pornography and illegal exchange of foreign currency as well.
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