BIC's Newsletter II

Here you have the most recent newsletter from BIC:

Dear sympathiser of the Basque Information Centre (BIC),

We provide every month an English overview of news-events about the left wing Basque independence struggle and other relevant topics from Euskal Herria. We hope you will benefit from this mail and that you stay with us. Please check for all kinds of documents in English and items to buy in on our website www.baskinfo.org

Agur!

BIC, The Netherlands

Monthly digital BIC-Newsletter nr. 2, period 1 February – 15 March 2005

1) Basque political prisoners
2) Initiatives from the Basque Country to come to a political
solution of the conflict
3) Repression in the Basque Country
4) ETA
5) ‘Plan-Ibarretxe’
6) Elections Basque Country 17 April

1) A letter from a Basque political prisoner from the prison of Jaén II, at 800 kilometres of the Basque Country, about the circumstances: “Every day for 4 hours we are being let out in two terms. (...) The cells are 4 by 3 metres and totally cement, with a sink and a stone cupboard for clothes. We have to eat in our cells. Once a week we can write 2 letters, that are delivered one month later. Once a week we can make a phone call of 5 minutes. The visits lasts 40 minutes in a room where we can hardly hear each other and all conversations are being recorded. We are not allowed to go the sports area or do other activities. Besides that we are being punished for all kind of small things. (...)

There were never as much Basque political prisoners as nowadays, not even under Franco; 719 as was made public by the prisonhelpgroup Etxerat at 4 March. Last year was a heavy year for the prisoners, and also for their family-members. In total 47 accidents occurred with people travelling up and down prisons involved; 1 person was killed, 126 were wounded. Because of the huge distances they have to travel (an average of 1400 kilometres), the bad condition of the roads, the dangerous traffic, the hurry and loss of concentration, many accidents happen. And it costs the families an average of 1.600 euro each month.

At 14 March, one year after the PSOE took over from the PP, 700 Basque political prisoners went on hunger strike for the recognition of their political rights and the rights as an individual. In a declaration the prisoners claim that the Spanish and French authorities reacted on protests so far with punishment measures. The EPPK, the prisoners collective, calls for an end to the dispersion, for the return to Basque prisons and for participation in the political process in their country.

2) The ‘conflict resolution committee’ that was set up by the National Debate Forum, has presented at 1 February an international group that has to guard the process. It contains of Sjurdur Skaale, an ex-parlementarian of the Faroer-islands, Verena Graf, a Swiss human rights expert, Alec Reid, the Irish priest who played an important role in the Irish peace process, the Catalans Aureli Argemi and Monica Sabata of the Centre for Ethnic Minorities and Nations and the former secretary of state from Idaho, United States, Pete Cenarrusa.

In Bilbao demonstrate at 13 February thousands of people against the European constitution.

The Platfrom 18/98+, that represents and defends the accused in the ‘case 18/98’ against the Basque independence movement, manifests at 19 February with 2000 people in Donostia. In the ‘case 18/98’ 220 people, who are active in all kinds of ways for the independence of the Basque Country, are being connected with ETA. During the case people are unlawfully detained, there has been tempered with evidence, people have been tortured, placed in isolation and abused and locked in on political reasons. Nobody is convicted, although some cases are from 1998.

At the referendum about the European constitution 60% of the people who were allowed to vote stayed at home in the Basque Countr; 24.6% voted for, 12.7% against.

At 26 February tens of thousands people demonstrated in Bilbao at a call from the platform 18/98+ behind the slogan ‘Eskubide zibil eta politikoen alde’, for civil and political rights. Despite it was hard to estimate how many people came, it was one of the biggest demonstrations in the Basque Country ever.

3) At 30 January 33 Basques, who were ever a member of the left political formations Herri Batasuna, Euskal Herritarrok or Batasuna, had to report in Madrid at the offices of the investigative judge Garzon to hear that they were being accused of ‘integration in an armed gang’. They all denied any ties with ETA and declared: ‘We came from Euskal Herria to the High Court to declare ourselves guilty on one item; the defence of the right of the Basque people for self determination’. Due to health reasons Jon Idigoras and Karlos Rodriguez were absent; they had to testify in the High Court in Bilbao. Gotzon Kortazar was already in prison, in Osny, France.

In Paris the European Arrest Warrant against Jean-Francois Lefort, the spokesman of the Basque prisonsolidarity group Askatasuna (according to the Spanish justice a ‘criminal organisation’), is denied on 2 February. It has probably to do with the fact that Leforts ‘crimes’ were committed on French soil. Lefort is still in prison in La Santé; 12 year prison is requested for him, also because Askatasuna is on the ‘European terrorist list’.

On 7 February the mass trial against the left Basque youth organisations Jarrai-Haika-SEGI starts in Madrid; 42 youngsters face 654 years in jail. The trial has to be in high speed tempo because the terms of 4 years imprisonment without trial of 6 of the youngsters is almost finished.19 others are already 3 years in pre-trial detention. 10 youngsters decided, faced with the charges between 10 and 112 year, to hide from the police. The defence has due to the speed of the trials hardly the time to prepare to the numerous accusations. Strange is the fact that SEGI is still legal operating on French soil, that France refused to extradite 3 SEGI-members to Spain and that the Spanish justice can’t provide any evidence for the accusation thatSEGI is part of ETA. Even stranger is the case of Asier Tapia, who will be locked up for 112 year. In March 2001 he called on a press conference to condemn and resist the arrests of 15 alleged members of Haika. The Spanish justice turned that call into ‘provoking violent actions’ and accuse him of 22 actions with ‘terrorist damage’. And above all that, there is the Asociacion de Victimas del Terrorisme (AVT), a cover organisation of the PP, who demonstrated at the end of January with slogans like ‘A united Spain can never be beaten’, ‘We will follow Spain until death’, who demands 336 years extra jail for the youngsters because of ‘an act of genocide’ against ‘everyone who didn’t apply to the national-terrorist dictates of the Basque Country’. The lawyers of the youngsters appeal at the Basque commission for human rights, at the Basque minister of justice, they appeal of course at the court itself and at the association of European lawyers. The trial continued the whole week and is full of irregularities, even the translator can’t cope with the Basque language. At 20 February the public prosecutor Enrique Molina calls some witnesses who has to back his case; Imanol Iparragirre testified in 1995 to the Guardia Civil that he was a member of KAS as well as Jarrai, with that backing Molina’s thesis that Jarrai was subdued to KAS. Ipparragirre, however, testified that his statement then was taken from him under torture and he complained at large at the current judge about it. At 5 March Olatz Dañobeitia,Olatz Karro, Garazi Biteri, Ugaitz Elizaran, Igor Ortega and Garikoitz Etxeberria have to be released because they ended their 4 years pre-trail detention. The appeal of the public prosecutor that they have to be kept another 126 days, because the defence was deliberately delaying the trial, was dismissed. The 6 have to report every day to the police station in their villages and are not allowed to travel abroad.

Despite the number of arrests of Basque citizens by Spanish, French and Basque police declining, there are more complaints about torture filed. In 2003 210 Basques were placed in the notorious ‘incommunicado’-detention, in 2004 138. 6 of them by the Ertzaintza, 46 by the Spanish police, 24 by the Guardia Civil, 58 by the French police and 4 by Belgian police. These figures are made public by the anti-torture group TAT at 7 February on a press conference and they complain at the same time about the time that passes between the actual torture-complaint and the treatment of that complaint, sometimes years. 57 complaints of torture were filed, divided over the Spanish police (35) and the Guardia Civil (22).

At 9 February 14 people are arrested in the Basque Autonomous Community and Cadiz and Valencia in an operation with 200 Spanish police officers, at the orders of Garzon. In Azpeitia in the province Gipuzkoa the police tries to arrest somebody, but the person escaped. The 14 are accused by the Spanish minister of Internal Affairs Jose Antonio Alonso of ‘recruiting people for ETA’. The names of the arrested come from documents seized from Ibon Fernandez-Iradi at his arrest in Baiona at 19 December 2002. On this papers 110 people are arrested up till now, 39 of them were released. Of these last 14, 3 were released, one had to pay a bail of 25.000 euro and 10 were put in jail. At 12 February Angel Alkalde, former parliamentarian of Herri Batasuna, is arrested at the stairs of the Audiencia Nacional, were he came voluntarily when he heard he was accused of ‘collaboration’. Garzon put him in Soto del Real in Madrid. In Getxo Antonio Orbegozo-Linares is arrested. Against Kizkitza Gil de San Vicente an arrest warrant is filed.

At the orders of the Frech investigative judge Le Vert 2 Benedicts, Juan Joxe Agirre (75) and Marcel Etxandi (70), are arrested in Lazkao (Gipuzkoa) and in Belloc in the Frech-Basque province Lapurdi. The Guardia Civil and the French police searched their archives and accused them of ‘connections to ETA’. The searches were connected to a letter the French police found in the house of the in October arrested Mikel Albisu, the so called leader of ETA. Agirre said he was released at the end of the day and that the police found copies of the ETA-magazine Zutabe, but the Benedicts archive everything about Euskal Herria. A copy of the report of the search and arrest was however refused, when Agirre asked for it. Etxandi was released after 2 days in the police station of Baiona. Some days later people from the cultural world protested against the arrest of Etxandi, through an open letter to the French government and also the Abertzaleen Batasuna and the Basque solidarity party EA come with a statement, in which they refer to the first raid of the Benedict abyss, in 1943 by the Gestapo.

In Madrid at 14 February the trail against 11 Basque youngsters accused of throwing molotov cocktails in 2000 to the barracks of the Guardia Civil in Galdako starts. Against each of them is 18 year requested for arson, 4 years for the inflicting of wounds and an amount of money to pay for the damage, 45.060 euro.

In Valencia Mikel Orebezogo and and Sara Majarenas are arrested on 17 February and explosives, weapons and documents are seized at their place. According to the police they were about to conduct an attack.

At 22 February in Andoian in the province Gipuzkoa the caravan company Itsasmendi is searched by numerous officers of the Spanish police. The search is connected to the case ‘Pro-amnistia’ into the funding of this organisation, that was closed by Garzon in 2001. Some members are still in prison, waiting for their trial.

Judge Garzon calls the former Sozialista Abertzaleak members Joseba Permach and Joseba Alvarez to testify in the ‘case-Batasuna’. He can do this now because the Basque parliament is dissolved because of the coming elections. He also would have liked to call Arnaldo Otegi and Jon Salaberria, but these 2 are member of the permanent commission of the parliament, so Garzon asked the Basque High Court to question them. It was for now the last working day of Garzon, who is going to the US for 9 months, to give lectures and to study English. Permach and Alvarez are being accused of being ‘ETA-member’, Josu Urritikoetxea also, against him run still an European Arrest Warrant and an international arrest warrant.

At 3 March hundreds of people commemorate in Gasteiz the bloody events of 3 March 1976 when the Spanish police attacked 5000 strikers, who were gathered in the San Fransisco church, killing 5 of them; Pedro Maria Martinez-Ocio, Fransisco Aznar, Romualdo Barroso, Bienvienido Perea and Jose Garcia-Castillo. Still this story is covered up and is there no justice done, according to the relatives of the victims. One of the main responsible, then minister of Internal Affairs and PP-founder Manuel Fraga, is still governor of Galicia.

Arnaldo Otegi has to defend himself at 10 March at the Basque High Court for a speech in which he called the Spanish king Juan Carlos ‘head of all torturers’. Otegi said this at a press conference just after the closing of the only newspaper in Basque Egunkaria in 2002, when it was revealed that 10 of the arrested people were tortured. The public prosecutor asks for 15 months in prison for Otegi.

4) ETA takes responsibility for 23 attacks she conducted between 15 September and 23 December 2004, but also complains about false claims in their name. ETA said to have nothing to do with the bomb call in the stadium of Real Madrid during a game against Real Sociedad. As we said wrongly as well.

The French newspaper Le Figaro writes in January that ETA has in France 150-200 so called ‘liberados’, people who are known by the police as ETA-member. At the end of January Europe Press writes that ETA is looking for foreign interlocutors to negotiate for them. People as Nelson Mandela, Mario Soares (former president of Portugal) and Fransesco Cossiga (former president of Italy) are being mentioned.

In the new book of the Spanish judge Garzon ‘A world without fear’ he writes that the 2 ETA-members who were caught putting a bag full explosives on a train just before Christmas 2003, ‘wanted to detonate when the train was out of service, so without passengers’. The 2, Gorka Loran and Garikoitz Arruarte, heard in November last year a demand of 2.788 years in prison, at the accusation of 184 attempts of murder, 180 passengers and 4 serviceman. Garzon also writes that it was not sure that the van that was intercepted in Cuenca, was to conduct a mass slaughter. Garzon doubts because the accusation was based on the statement of 1 person, who was ‘interrogated’ at the police station.

At 9 February ETA detonates a car bomb near the conference centre in Madrid; 43 people are slightly injured by glass falling. Half an hour before somebody of ETA called the Basque newspaper GARA. The bomb went off some hours before the Spanish king Juan Carlos and the Mexican president Fox were about to open the exhibition in the centre.

Between 10 and 18 February various embassies of EU-countries in Madrid and the air travel company KLM receive a letter from ETA warning them for attacks on tourist targets.

At 27 February a small ETA-bomb goes off after a warning in the garden of a holiday resort of employees of the BBVA-bank in Alicante. Nobody gets hurt.

5) At 1 February the Basque president Ibarretxe presents his plan for a ‘free association’ with Spain in the Spanish parliament. He defended in half an hour the right of the Basques to decide for their own future; ‘About our future is going to be decided by they who live and work in the Basque Country and not in the meetings of Zapatero and Rajoy (PP-chairman, BIC).’ As expected 164 members of the PSOE, 148 members of the PP, 3 of the communist IU, 3 of the coalition of Canaric Isles and 1 regionalist of Aragon (313 deputies in all) voted against. The 29 pro-voters were: 10 of the Catalan CiU, 8 of the left republican ERC from Catalonia, the 7 EAJ-PNV members of course, 2 of the Bloque Nacionalista from Galicia, 1 of the Basque Solidaruty party EA and 1 of the coalition Naffaroa Bai.

6) In a reaction on the dismissal of the ‘Plan-Ibarretxe’ in the Spanish parliament, the Basque government calls for early elections for 17 April. Ibarretxe calls the Spanish government to let ‘all political options’ participate, referring to the banned left wing party Batasuna. Batasuna on her turn calls on Ibarretxe not to call for elections as long as their participation is not guaranteed, because it would be ‘a serious obstacle to peace’, but Ibarretxe refuses.

The reaction of the Spanish minister of Justitce Lopez-Aguilar and the Spanish public prosecutor Candido Conde-Pumpido is swift; one day later they say Batasuna is not allowed to participate, under whatever name. Aguilar adds that Batasuna is not ‘legal because it refuses to condemn violence’ (...) ’Batasuna was banned on the local elections in 2003, with the common elections last year and with the European elections, and also this elections they will be banned, so that the result will be that they disappear from the political scene’.

At 15 February Batasuna announces to participate in the elections with their own lists and to use their peace proposal from 14 November last year as main point in their program. At the same day the Spanish daily El Pais wrote that the Guardia Civil together with the Spanish secret service CNI made a list of 1.500 people who are not allowed to take part in elections. These persons were never in contact with justice, were never on lists of Batasuna, never organised manifestations for political prisoners, but seemed to fit the profile of a left wing independentist and future candidate for Batasuna. The list for the elections, headed by Arnaldo Otegi, are in the eyes of the CNI ‘distraction manoeuvres’, because it is easy to ban. Besides the aforementioned list there is also a list of people who were on the banned lists from the local elections (254 lists), the common elections and the European. Reaction of Zapatero: ‘The ‘Law on the political parties’ will be put into effect to prohibit Batasuna from standing in the elections’.

At 16 February a platform is erected, Aukera Guztiak, that has to take care that every citizen of Araba, Gipuzkoa and Bizkaia has the possibility to make the choice of their preference at the coming elections. The founders, from a broad layer of Basque society, say that they don’t want to replace anybody and also not have a political manifest. They just want to defend the right for all political ideas to participate. To establish an electoral platform they collected 20.000 signatures and they presented a
list with 75 candidates. The Spanish public prosecutor has said he is ‘sure’ that Aukera Guztiak is a ‘front of Batasuna’ and that he will prosecute them.

BIC,
Pobox 2884,
3500 GW Utrecht,
The Netherlands.
baskinfo@xs4all.nl
www.baskinfo.org

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