Wednesday, January 06, 2010
Sunday, January 03, 2010
Saturday, January 02, 2010
Basque Society Shows its Solidarity with Political Prisoners
Thousands of people marched through the Basque city of Bilbao on Saturday to demand that rights for the Basque political prisoners are respected by both Madrid and Paris. The protest was called by leftist Basque nationalist groups, including Etxerat, an association of family members of political prisoners which accuses the governments of Spain and France of punishing relatives and friends by holding the political prisoners in prisons far away from their homes.A judge in Madrid earlier Saturday rejected a legal move to ban the march by an extreme right group called Justicia y Dignidad. But he ruled that the participants must abstain from showing expressions of support for ETA. As a result, the marchers did not display photographs Basque political prisoners, unlike in a similar march one year ago.
The demonstrators marched peacefully across the Basque financial capital Saturday evening behind a banner reading "Basque prisoners, back home", and chanted "Basque prisoners to the Basque Country" and "No peace without amnesty."
Basque political prisoners are dispersed in prisons throughout Spain which makes it difficult for them to receive visits from family members. On Friday, Spain's Supreme Court ruled that the Basque regional government had exceeded its authority by providing aid to families of prisoners being held outside of the region to allow them to visit their loved ones.
The aid was awarded between 2003 and 2009 by the Basque Nationalist Party, which held power in the region until last May when it was replaced in elections by the Socialist Party. The fascist regime that rules in Madrid has murdered thousands of Basques since 1936 in a futile attempt to hold on to its illegal occupation of Euskal Herria.
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Saturday, December 26, 2009
Saturday, December 19, 2009
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Basque Language on Trial
This entry was posted at the Irish Basque Solidarity Committees blog:
Trial against Basque language newspaper Egunkaria beginsOn 3rd February 2003, the Spanish police ordered the definitive closure of Euskaldunon Egunkaria, the only daily newspaper published in the Basque language. This was followed by the arrest of ten people. All of them were well known and respected Basque language and culture activists, journalists and writers. One of them is a Jesuit brother.
They were held incommunicado for five days under the anti-terrorist law. Some of them were imprisoned and others later released. One of them, the newspaper’s director, told journalists at the prison gates he had been savagely tortured. His words and his shattered appearance shocked Basque society.
The operation was ordered by the Spanish National Court on the grounds that Egunkaria allegedly formed part of a wider group of businesses and organisations controlled by ETA – the old “all is ETA” motto.
Immediately after the closure hundreds of protests took place across the Basque Country, including what was probably the largest demonstration ever to take place in the country two days after the closure.
Nearly four years later on 15th December 2006, the National Court Prosecutor determined that there were no grounds for the case and requested a stay of proceedings.
Despite this, six months later a court hearing was officially announced.
In the hearing it was concluded that only five of those arrested would finally go to trial: Joan Mari Torrealdai, ex-President of the administrative council of Egunkaria; Iñaki Uria, ex-Managing Director; Txema Auzmendi, former Administrative Council Secretary; Martxelo Otamendi, ex-Director; and Xabier Oleaga, former deputy director.
The trial begun yesterday Tuesday 15th in Madrid, with the accused facing sentences of between 12 and 14 years in prison, in addition to a further 14 to 15-year ban from practicing journalism. For the last months many support events have been organised and the presence of the leaders of the majority of Basque political parties and trade unions and education, culture and language movements’ representatives at the gates of the Spanish National Court yesterday was proof of the broad support they have in Basque society.
The hearing began with the testimonies of the accused who stated the newspaper was created by the Basque language grass roots movement to fill the crucial vacuum of a newspaper written in the national language and without any intervention by ETA.
They also told the court how they had been subjected to torture while detained incommunicado but the judges ordered them not to talk about this.
Aside from the accusations that form the basis of Tuesday's trial, there are further charges of attempting to falsify accounts and defraud the Treasury, of which eight defendants stand accused.
They could face up to between 13 and 26 years in prison and possible fines of between 21 and 33 million euro. The date for this trial is yet to be announced.
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Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Boise and the Egunkaria Case
This article about how the trial against five Basque journalist has affected the Basque community in Boise has been published at The Idaho Statesman:
Terrorism trial hits home for Boise Basques
Katy MoellerBOISE, Idaho — A terrorism trial on another continent is hitting close to home for some Boiseans.
A journalist familiar to many in the Treasure Valley's large Basque-American community is one of five former employees of a Basque-language daily newspaper scheduled to go on trial Tuesday in Spain.
Martxelo Otamendi and the others from the paper Euskaldunon Egunkaria will be tried in Spanish National Criminal Court, which is where cases of alleged terrorism are handled.
Some Boise-area Basques say they believe Otamendi's only crime is being a vocal Basque nationalist - not a member of the terrorist group Euskadi Ta Askatasuna - which means "Basque Homeland and Freedom" and is known as ETA.
Many thought the question had been resolved in Otamendi's favor.
The trial comes more than six years after Otamendi and the others were charged and after a major shift to the left in Spanish government.
"I have real concerns that it came out of a time that was known to be repressive," Boise Mayor Dave Bieter said. "Why are they prosecuting years away from any of the accusations? ... If the case were strong, he'd have been prosecuted a lot sooner than this."
The public prosecutor in Spain opted not to pursue the case. But in the Spanish legal system there is also a private prosecutor who takes part in criminal procedures as a victim. The private prosecutor is taking the case to trial.
Otamendi has developed friendships in Boise over the past two decades, during which he has visited three times.
His first visit came in 1989, when he came to work on a two-month project with a local TV station.
He returned to Boise in 2005 for Jaialdi, a national Basque festival that's held every five years and attracts Basques from all over the world.
In 2002, Otamendi stayed at Bieter's house while he was in Boise covering the Idaho Legislature's memorial supporting self-determination for the Basques of northern Spain and southern France.
"He stayed in a room over our garage, not exactly luxury accommodations. I can't really recall how it came about," said Bieter, who at that time was a state representative in the Legislature.
Bieter said he and others were surprised that a nonbinding joint memorial by the Idaho Legislature would become an international news event.
"Somehow (Otamendi) saw that as news before anybody else really did," Bieter said. "Then it really did become news. AP picked it up. The Spanish ambassador threw a fit."
It even attracted the attention of President George W. Bush's national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice.
Otamendi spent a week to 10 days interviewing members of the Idaho Legislature, including Bieter and Pete Cenarrusa, a Basque-American and former longtime Idaho secretary of state.
About 15,000 Basques live in Idaho, making it one of the largest Basque populations in the world outside the Basque Country.
Bieter's father was a professor at Boise State University. His family lived in the Basque Country for a time while dictator Francisco Franco was still in power. During a visit during early 2001 or 2002, Bieter was surprised by what he saw.
"It had become repressive again. I saw a lot of instances of that," Bieter said. "The Guardia Civil, an arm of the government, the submarine gun and jackboot guys were all around again. They came down real hard on demonstrations in the cities in the Basque Country. ... They were rounding up big groups of people."
On Feb. 20, 2003, Judge Juan del Olmo of the National Court of Spain shut down Egunkaria, the only daily newspaper published in the Basque language and dedicated to the lives, politics and culture of the Euskaldunak, or Basque people.
To Basques, journalists and human rights advocates around the world, the shutdown of the newspaper appeared heavy-handed.
"There is a freedom of the press issue that's really concerning," Bieter said.
Another Basque newspaper, Egin, was closed in 1998 under similar circumstances, with journalists accused of colluding with ETA. At least one journalist there was convicted, but earlier this year, more than 10 years after the "precautionary closure" of Egin, the case against the paper was dismissed.
"They could reopen it now, but the damage they have caused to the freedom of press cannot be healed at all," said Alberto Santana Ezkerra, director of Basque studies at Boise State University.
Paddy Woodworth, a former reporter for the Irish Times newspaper and author of "The Basque Country: A Cultural History," agrees.
"I believe that if there are serious charges against a medium of communication, sufficient to justify the precautionary measure of closing it down, they should be heard within weeks, not years," he said. "Otherwise the state is very open to charges of suppressing press freedom."
Last year, after Egunkaria had been closed five years, the group Reporters Without Borders called on Spain to drop the years-long prosecution.
"The alleged links between certain members of Egunkaria's staff and ETA have never been demonstrated, despite five years of judicial investigation," the press freedom group said. "The Spanish government's fight against terrorism is legitimate, but it must be done without violating free expression."
Spain's approach to that fight is an important part of the story, Woodworth and other experts said.
"The background is important," Woodworth said. "An anti-terrorist strategy from Madrid ... says that everything and everybody who shares any of ETA's aspirations is in reality a member of ETA, a very dangerous and undemocratic doctrine."
The policy begun under the conservative Partido Popular has been continued under the socialist worker's party, Partido Socialista Obrero Espanol, he said.
Journalists at Egunkaria were suspected by Spanish authorities of receiving both financing and direction from the armed Basque separatist group.
Otamendi vehemently denies the charge. After his arrest in 2003, he told the Idaho Statesman that he was tortured by the Spanish Guardia Civil during a five-day interrogation. He was released on $30,000 bond.
Basques angry about the loss of their paper pooled their money and opened the newspaper Egunero immediately after Egunkaria was closed. Four months later, the larger daily newspaper, Berria, was launched, with Otamendi serving as its editor.
Santana Ezkerra, the BSU professor, is among those in the Boise area who are keenly interested in the fate of Otamendi and his former co-workers at Egunkaria.
Santana is originally from the Basque Country. He said the terrorist group ETA turns 50 this year.
"They are weaker than ever, both in terms of popular support and in military terms," Santana said.
He said there are many reasons for the weakening of support for ETA among Basques, including a new generation that doesn't remember Franco and a population that is wealthier and less interested in conflicts with the Spanish government than in the past.
"ETA is dying," said Xabier Irujo Ametzaga, a professor of Basque politics at the University of Nevada, Reno. "The biggest part of Basque society is against the use of violence."
Santana has met Otamendi at cultural events, but doesn't know him personally. Still, he feels strongly that Otamendi is not a terrorist.
"I'm sure that he's not a member of ETA," Santana said. "He's a journalist. If he wanted to be a member of ETA, he could easily get a machine gun. His weapons are paper and printer."
"His editorials were not supporting ETA," said Santana, who was a regular reader of Egunkaria.
Santana and others say the shuttering of the only daily Basque-language newspaper was a huge blow. More than 3,000 people pitched in money to open Berria. It's available online.
"The Basque language is the main pillar of the Basque culture. It is a very important issue for everyone in the Basque Country," Irujo said.
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Saturday, December 12, 2009
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