Basque Info 3/02/10 from Belfast

New campaign in favour of civil and political rights launched

Last Saturday thousands of people filled the Euskalduna Conference Centre to attend the launch of Adierazi EH/Express PI (People’s Initiative) the new campaign group in favour of civil and political rights.

This new platform gathers people from many different political backgrounds and aims at demanding democracy for the Basque Country and the implementation of all civil and political rights cut down in the past few years.

During the event there was dance, theatre and videos displaying in different ways the attacks against civil and political rights in the Basque Country.

The speakers told the audience that the continuous banning of political parties, the mass arrests of political and social activists and the censorship occurring in the Basque Country is a unique situation within the European context.

But despite the terrible situation mass protests have been organised recently which shows the importance of the joint work among people of different political background. Adierazi EH wants to become a platform for them all.

The new group’s manifesto was read during the event which demands from the Spanish and French states, Europe and the world, the respect of the freedoms of opinion, expression, association and demonstration and the rights to intimacy and privacy, to access to justice, to active and passive vote and finally the right to reparation and democratic restoration.

Trial against Egunkaria ends

The lawyers of the five indicted in the trial against the Basque language newspaper Egunkaria highlighted the absurdity of case during the last session on Monday.

Even the public prosecution said there wasn’t enough evidences against them and asked for the charges to be dropped. Despite that, the private prosecution represented by the lawyers of two Spanish right-wing associations requested they are sentenced for up to 14 years in jail.

The indicted have requested that the ill treatment they received should be reflected upon, and say that the only thing they are guilty of is having worked in favour of Basque culture. 

Martxelo Otamendi, the paper’s former Editor-in-Chief, said: «I am guilty of running a Basque-language newspaper». He said he wanted to thank his colleagues for appointing him, and told them it had been an «honour» to share those years with the people in the dock. He pointed out that he had never been a member of ETA, and that Egunkaria had never been under its control. «The only thing we did was to work to develop our language». And he also made the following remark: «You can’t accuse someone of being a member of ETA if they themselves are not even aware of the fact». 

The verdict is expected to be delivered within a few weeks.

Events in solidarity with Egunkaria were organised in Ireland by the Irish Basque Solidarity Committees over the past few days. 60 people attended a talk given by the coordination of the international campaign in favour of Egunkaria in Derry on Saturday and dozens more attended talks in Belfast and Dublin on Monday and Tuesday.

End of hunger strike in prisons and solidarity in the Basque Country

The 746 Basque political prisoners ended the week long hunger strike last Sunday at midnight. The protest is part of a new campaign of protests which begun on the 1^st of January of this year. More protests have been announced for coming months. The Basque political prisoners demand the recognition of their political status, their repatriation to Basque prisons and the release of all ill prisoners and those who have already completed their sentences.

During the week and especially over the weekend, hundreds of solidarity protests took place across the Basque Country and in at least 20 different towns, two day fasts were organised. In Bilbao 20 people fasted for the entire week.

Unfortunately Basque prisoner Lorentxa Gimon remains on hunger strike after 33 days in the northern French jail of Roanne. She demands that she is transferred to another jail with Basque comrades. 60 people from her home town of Donibane Garazi/St. Jéan-de-Pied-de-Port travelled to Roanne to show their solidarity. They were joined outside the prison by local left-wing activists.

New accusations against the Spanish police for Jon Anza’s disappearance

Last week French journalist and writer Jacques Massey launched his new book called “ETA, secret history of a 100 years’ war”. In the epilogue Massey comments on the disappearance of former Basque political prisoner Jon Anza nine months ago and reveals that a very important and reliable source told him that the Spanish police kidnapped him, and that there are tapped phone conversations regarding this. Massey also interviewed members of the French special police who didn’t deny the accusations.

After the new revelations the Jon Anza campaign demanded a judge is appointed for the case but the public prosecutor has rejected it. The campaign spoke out against the authorities silence surrounding the case.

Otegi demands a democratic solution to the conflict during trial

Last week the Pro-Independence Left imprisoned leader Arnaldo Otegi attended trial in Madrid for taking part in 2005 in a solidarity event with Basque political prisoner Joxe Mari Sagardui on the 25^th anniversary of his imprisonment. He is still in jail which marks him as the oldest serving prisoner in Europe.

Otegi, who has been accused of glorifying terrorism, took advantage of the opportunity to demand a democratic resolution to the political conflict. He said the Pro-Independence Left has always worked for a peaceful resolution and remembered the self-determination processes in Ireland and Scotland.

He also spoke about the situation of the Basque political prisoners. He said that the existence of almost 800 prisoners out of a population of three million proves the existence of a conflict without parallels around the world.