This letter however, arrived only the 6th of January at the office of the lawyer of Akarregi, Victor Koppe. He immediately appealed at the State-lawyer for a court case against the decision of the minister. There are numerous reasons for a second opinion from a judge and besides that, it is a civil right of Alexander Akarregi. The State-lawyer thought however, on instigation of Minister of Justice Donner, that the terms of 7 days for appealing were over and that there were no arguments for another court case.

That Donner and the State lawyer can predict the defence of Koppe and Akarregi before the court case takes place, is bizarre. Akarregi has the right to an appeal, now his rights are being violated and the Dutch authorities choose in this way for a repressive step in solving the conflict in the Basque Country. To deal with the rights of a political refugee in this way, making a decision during the holidays and the parliamentary recess, testifies of careless dealing and a slave attitude towards the Spanish authorities.

The Spanish authorities seem more than willing to get their hands on Alexander Akarregi, especially now when they are full steam ahead against the proposals for the growing desire for self- determination in the Basque Country. By interrogating Akarregi ‘firmly’ they will again be able to continue their fabricages against Basque activists and make a new wave of arrests.

We hold the Dutch authorities responsible for everything that might happen to Alexander Akarregi during his detention in Spain. If the Dutch authorities are not obeying their own laws of justice, why should the Spanish authorities do that?

We hold also the Dutch judges in Haarlem, dealing with Akarregi’s case, responsible, for they dealt more than cooperative with the Spanish accusations. They even invented a new accusation ‘transport of explosives’, to make sure that the double punishment, requested for an extradition case, was secured. Besides that, for none of the accusations of the Spanish authorities, was any prove whatsoever delivered. Only the fact that somebody rented a car, which is not a crime in both states, is not sufficient to extradite a person!

Remarkable for the involvement of the Haarlem court was the sentence by one of the judges when the verdict came “You are allowed to be extradited to Portugal” “Or was it Spain?”

For more information on Akkaregi’s case (in dutch), check here

Baskenland Informatie Centrum (BIC), The Netherlands.