Civil and Political Rights

There is a very interesting article at Berria today, it provides information about the upcoming trial in the 18/98 Case and the so called "Excercise Book".

Here you have the entire article, is worth reading:

Demand for civil and political rights receives broad support

A thick, colourful, varied ‘Exercise Book’ reached its finishing post and two volumes were needed to include all the contributions

Aitziber Laskibar – DURANGO (Bizkaia)

The hearing in the 18/98 Case is about to start. Within a week 59 Basque citizens will be tried at the Spanish National Criminal Court. The Public Prosecutor is not only requesting 991 years behind bars for the indictees but also the dissolving of certain companies. But the 59 will not be going down to Madrid on their own; they will be going with the support of thousands of citizens. With the words and drawings that have been added to the ‘Exercise Book’ and with the warmth reflected in yesterday’s event in Durango (Bizkaia), which a large crowd turned out for.

After crossing the whole of the Basque Country, the ‘Exercise Book’ was nice and thick by the time it got to Durango. There wasn’t room for the contributions people had added to be fitted into one volume, so more than two were needed. It is thick, colourful and varied. That is the final result of the ‘Exercise Book’. It has become a symbol because many, many Basque citizens feel there has been an abuse of civil and political rights. According to the journalist Mariano Ferrer of the 18/98 + Group, thousands of people have experienced these abuses personally; they feel “involved”. That is why there have been so many “personal and intimate” contributions. Ferrer expressed the view that the public at large had understood that the abuses of civil and political rights affect everyone.

People of many different persuasions have also made their own demands in favour of rights. Proof of this is the origin of those who took part in the initiatives in Durango. The number of people indicted in the cases included in the 19/98+ Group was also clear yesterday. These cases involve over 200 indictees and wherever one looked one could see people facing charges in one case or another. Among those who turned up were Loren Arkotxa and Maribi Ugarteburu of Udalbiltza; Martxelo Otamendi, Iñaki Uria and Joanmari Larrarte of Egunkaria;Arnaldo Otegi, Pernando Barrena and Joseba Permach of Batasuna; Juan Mari Olano and Jon Enparantza of the Pro-Amnesty Movement (AAM); Rafa Diez of the trade union LAB and most of the indictees in the cases relating to the Haika and Segi Basque nationalist left youth organisations. They were joined by Jone Goirizeliala, Arantza Zulueta and Iker Urbina, the lawyers defending them.

Yesterday a prominent role was taken by the indictees in the 18/98 case, which is about to start; they climbed up onto the stage and filled it. They got a warm round of applause from the audience. They in turn applauded the people who had come to support them.

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