Basque Info 26/01/11

In this issue:

• Massive response to Spanish attacks
  
• Brutal torture reports
  
• Popular victory in political trial
  
• Lawyers worlwide demand Otegi’s release Massive response to Spanish attacks

Due to technical problems at the radio station this week we are not able to provide you with the podcast but we hope to include it next week. Friends of the Basque Country from Belfast.

Massive response to spanish attacks

Around 10,000 people attended a demonstration in Iruñea/Pamplona (Navarre) last Saturday to protest against the latest Spanish arrests. Other smaller protests took place during the week.

Eleven Basques had been arrested last week, accused of being members of various pro-independence political organisations. Most of the arrested were interrogated for some five days under the incommunicado regime and then imprisoned.

The signatories of the Gernika Agreement, which promotes a democratic process of conflict resolution in the Basque Country, organised the march. The slogans chosen this time declared “On the way to peace! Democratic solutions now! No more arrests!”

In severe cold, the impressive response to the Spanish attacks showed the anger and outrage that the arrests have caused among Basques, only one week after ETA announced a permanent, general and verifiable ceasefire. Popular mobilisation clearly appears as the key element to promote the democratic process.

Speakers at the end of the march stated that “with everybody's efforts we will achieve our objectives, the Basque Country wants and need peace and freedom. Even the Spanish state can't take that from us.”  They demanded that the Spanish authorities respect the Basque Country's chosen path to peace and democracy.

After listening to reports from the detainees, protesters and speakers demanded the ending of torture.

Forty local journalists expressed their solidarity with one of the arrested, accused of directing www.apurtu.org, an anti-repression website, webtv and radio program.

Brutal torture reports

The horrific torture reports from the last detainees emerged little by little as their solicitors and relatives visited them in jail and some others were released on bail.

Although some of them were treated correctly, most of the arrested told of continuous sessions of torture including beatings, forced physical exercise to the point of exhaustion, suffocation with plastic bags, threats, psychological pressure, simulated and threatened rape and electroshock attacks and long questioning sessions about political issues.

One of the arrested wrote “aztungal” which, if read backwards says “laguntza” (“help” in the Basque language), on one of the papers given to him by the police to sign as if it was his statement for the judge.

Iker Moreno, son of Basque pro-independence leader Txelui Moreno told his family that his five days incommunicado were very, very hard (he can't walk properly and has to take pills for the pain) but that he wanted to send a message to the Basque people. He encouraged everybody to continue in struggle, each one doing its little bit, in whatever area of struggle they are involved. “We will win!” he shouted across the cold and hard window of the visiting room. His brother was also arrested and beaten by the police outside the court building in Madrid.

At a very emotive press conference held by relatives of the arrested and members of the Group Against Torture one of those released on bail said he had been at breaking point and that he would have signed anything. He said those were the worst days of his life.

In an unusual move two of the solicitors assigned by the authorities to the detainees (who are not allowed to choose their own solicitors during the incommunicado period) told the judge about the torture inflicted upon their clients and refused to endorse their statements taken during the the period.

In its 2011 report, the renowned international organisation Human Rights Watch criticised the Spanish government because it refuses to take on board its recommendations (and of others) to end the incommunicado regime.

Popular victory in political trial

Eight years ago the Spanish government closed down Udalbiltza, the first Basque national institution, established in 1999 by hundreds of local authority elected representatives. Dozens of them were arrested and accused of “following ETA's intructions” because of their commitment to nation-building.

A trial against 21 members of Udalbiltza took place finally during 2010. The accused faced up to 10 years in jail for their public political work to promote Basque national programmes in areas such as education, Basque language, economy etc.

Last week the verdict was given and all of them were found “not guilty”. Udalbiltza was also found to be “not terrorist”.

The verdict completely opposes for the first time the Spanish state mantra that “everything is ETA”: it states that even though some individuals or organisations might share ETA's objectives of self-determination and Basque nation-building, it doesn't make them ETA members or organisations.

This sentence has been seen as a victory for the majority of the Basque people who opposed the closing down of Udalbiltza and publicly supported the arrested through the many years of campaigning.

The cleared Udalbiltza members held a press conference immediately after the sentence was published. They expressed their satisfaction at the verdict but highlighted the damage done to the national institution and to their own lives. Many of them had spent time in jail and most of them had restrictive control measures imposed on them while on bail. They said that Udalbiltza is more needed than ever now and that they hope for its early re-establishment.

Lawyers worlwide demand Otegi’s release

The European Association of Lawyers for Democracy & World Human Rights and the International Association of Democratic Lawyers last weekend both passed a motion demanding the release of Basque pro-independence leader Arnaldo Otegi at their annual conference in Sofia, Bulgaria. They also demanded the bans against the Pro-Independence Left be lifted.

The Friendship Group, formed by Members of the European Parliament to support a peace process in the Basque Country, also last week demanded similar measures and welcomed ETA's ceasefire announcement. They expressed their concern and disappointment at the Spanish Government's response and asked for an end to all repressive attacks.

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