Chronicle by Ramón Sola published in GARA on the 08/07/2011
The major political trials usually end up with high-profile speeches from the dock and the "case Bateragune" was no exception. For sixteen minutes, Arnaldo Otegi explained again to the court, and to the Spanish State by extension, which are the bet and the commitment of the Abertzale Left. And he predicted that both for them and for the Basques the future will bring good news. A message that had an added value given the awkward position from which it was launched, with the threat of 45 years of imprisonment for five of the accused.
Otegi spoke for all, but the last was addressed to the activist of the Abertzale Left, "That no one leaves the road we have taken -he asked-. And smile, because we will win ", he reiterated, in an already usual phrase in his last interviews from jail.
Seconds earlier, he had told the court that “there are things that will happen for sure: there will be an increased involvement of the international community and us, the pro- independence ones, are going to be more and more."
Sitting on a chair before the three judges, Otegi said that "Only four or five of us started and we are now 313,000", referring to the initiative that he led after his last release from prison in 2008, and which has resulted in the current scenario . Speaking always in the plural form, he said they feel "proud" and "satisfied" for “making the ocean liner of the Abertzale Left turn. And to turn an ocean liner many meters are needed”, he said, regarding the attempt to condemn them putting the focus only on the initial movements of this process in 2009.
By the way, he put in value that "we are here face forward (ed: Spanish expression meaning truthfully), to tell the truth, there are things we could have refused and we have assumed." The clearest example is Rafa Diez’s, who, after assuming his involvement in promoting the change of strategy and the internal debate, has seen how the prosecutor attributes him the role of "leader."
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