NIEUWSOVERZICHT

WEEKLY UPDATE BASQUE INFORMATION CENTRE, WEEK 17, 9 May until 16 May

It didn’t come as a surprise, 225 electoral-lists of the voters- platform AuB (the organisation for self-determination) were excluded by the Spanish High Court in Madrid from participating in the elections on the 25th of May. Reason given: according to the High Court AuB is a successor of the earlier outlawed Basque political party Batasuna. And if the governing Partido Popular saw it coming; they never in their history fielded as much candidates as they did this year, winning already in some villages where their only competitor would be AuB. For the rest Baltasar Garzón did in the end get all the 88.000 signatures of the supporters of AuB, which they had to collect to take part in the elections. And Garzón confiscated long before AuB was excluded already the voting-papers at the printers of AuB.
The new proposal of Aznar to punish protests against wars Spain is involved in or supporting is the first extension of the military courts since the end of the dictatorship of Franco in 1975. Punishment varies from 1 till 6 years in prison. De spokesman of the United Left, Felipe Alcaraz spoke of a proposal “which can be implemented by every Banana- Republic”, and the chairman of the Catalonian Left, Josep Lluis Carod Rovira, called Aznar “a danger for democracy”. The Spanish socialists are, as usual, reserved, and want to “await the exact implementation of the proposal”.
In Genève Julen Arzuaga, lawyer and the Basque representative in the UN-commission for the prevention of torture, is allowed to enter the UN-commission after 3 months. Spain called Arzuaga “a dangerous terrorist” and wanted to exclude him from participating in the UN. But after 3 months failing to produce any evidence against him, Arzuaga was allowed to continue his work.
In an interview with the Basque newspaper Egunero, for now the successor or the outlawed newspaper Egunkaria, Javier Salutregi, former editor of the for 5 years closed Basque newspaper Egin, tells about his situation. Salutregi was for 4 months in prison after Spanish police raided the offices of Egin and was released on bail, but is still waiting for his trial, together with 200 other persons arrested in connection with the Basque struggle for independence. Three employees of Egin are still in jail, without any hope for a trial of release, and they don’t know how to defend themselves. “There are certainly resemblances between the closing of Egin and the closing of Egunkaria, but the operation against Egunkaria came as a surprise, while Egin was criminalized for years by the Basque government”, so Salutregi tells. His future doesn’t look good: “With the return of fascism the word of a police-officer that we are members of ETA is enough to convict us, we don’t have any chance of defending ourselves”.
Baltasar Garzón prosecutes at the 8th of May 6 more people in the case against the outlawed Basque councillors organisation Udalbiltza; Loren Arkotxa, Xabier Iragorri, Xabier Alegria, Joseba Garmendia, Imanol Esnaola and Miren Josune Aranburu. Before, another 8 people were arrested.
At the 8th of May, the organisation of Guardia Civil files a complaint against all arrested journalists and editors of Egunkaria, and the ones who are supporting them legally. They are charged with “undermining the institute of the Guardia Civil and insulting officers”. The journalists dared to file a complaint against officers of the Guardia Civil of torturing them during their detention.
At the 9th of May thousands of people demonstrate and strike throughout the Basque Country with the slogan ‘Euskal Herria aurrera’ (Forward with the Basque Country) and against the outlawing of AuB. The Basque regional police (Ertzaintza) goes in with force, in Bilbao the city hall is stormed and 150 people are beaten out. The moderate Basque nationalists from the PNV and EA declare in a statement that they won’t take any action against the outlawing of AuB and call to the independentists not to vote ‘invalid’ (what a vote for AuB will be officially) because it will benefit the Spanish parties PP, UPN and PSOE.
In Irun at the 9th of May Oier Imaz gets arrested by the Spanish police at orders of the Audiencia Nacional and is taken over to a prison in Madrid where he will face great risk of being tortured. Imaz is accused of participating in a campaign for boycotting tourism to Spain.
At the 10th of May tens of thousands of people demonstrate in the Basque capital Bilbao, despite a double prohibition by the Basque government, against the outlawing of Udalbiltza, and behind the motto ‘Bai Udalbiltza, Bai Euskal Herriari’ (Yes to Udalbiltza, Yes to the Basque Country). The demonstration is without incidents, but the organisers will be prosecuted by the Basque ministry of Internal Affairs.
At the same day Aitor García Justo, Ainhoa García Montero, Asier Aranguren Urroz and Thierry Idiart got arrested in Saintes, France by French anti-terror commando’s. The four, aged between 25 and 30 years, are said to form an operative cell of the Basque armed organisation ETA.
The campaign for the support of the closed newspaper Egunkaria by 4 organisations which preaches civil disobedience, has a list of 2.100 signatures of people who plead guilty of helping and supporting Egunkaria. In Catalonia 229 accused them-selves.
The Basque armed organisation ETA calls people to vote at the elections of 25 May for the 1.500 banned candidates. ETA also declared to have ended an internal debate and soon will reveal the result. And ETA declared at the Basque television (ETB) that there is no cease-fire and that ETA will not disarm as long as the Basque people don’t have the right for self-determination. The Spanish justice department starts an investigation to ETB for broadcasting the declaration.
At the 9th and 10th of May in Helsinki members of MIDAS, the European organisation of 26 newspapers in minority-languages, join in a meeting. The editors of Egunkaria, also a member of MIDAS, couldn’t give presence at the meeting; Iñaki Uria is still in prison and Martxelo Otamendi is released on bail but didn’t get permission from the authorities to travel abroad. De meeting of MIDAS demanded the immediate release of Uria and sent a resolution to the European Parliament, calling the closure of Egunkaria “unfounded and undemocratic”. MIDAS also asks for an independent investigation of the EP in the closing of Egunkaria. The next annual meeting of MIDAS will be held in the Basque Country.
At the 15th of May the Catalan member of the EP, Miquel Mayol, raises attention to the case of Egunkaria during a debate about the membership of Turkey of the European Union. Mayol asked how you could demand respect from Turkey for human rights, as the members of the EU, such as Spain, are in the meantime not respecting the same rights? Mayol used the example of Egunkaria to support his statement. Since the closing of Egunkaria Mayol appears on every meeting of the EU with an edition of the banned newspaper under his arm.

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WEEKLY UPDATE BASQUE INFORMATION CENTRE, WEEK 17, 9 May until 16 May
It didn’t come as a surprise, 225 electoral-lists of the voters- platform AuB (the organisation for self-determination) were excluded by the Spanish High Court in Madrid from participating in the elections on the 25th of May. Reason given: according to the High Court AuB is a successor of the earlier outlawed Basque political party Batasuna. And if the governing Partido Popular saw it coming; they never in their history fielded as much candidates as they did this year, winning already in some villages where their only competitor would be AuB. For the rest Baltasar Garzón did in the end get all the 88.000 signatures of the supporters of AuB, which they had to collect to take part in the elections. And Garzón confiscated long before AuB was excluded already the voting-papers at the printers of AuB. The new proposal of Aznar to punish protests against wars Spain is involved in or supporting is the first extension of the military courts since the end of the dictatorship of Franco in 1975. Punishment varies from 1 till 6 years in prison. De spokesman of the United Left, Felipe Alcaraz spoke of a proposal “which can be implemented by every Banana- Republic”, and the chairman of the Catalonian Left, Josep Lluis Carod Rovira, called Aznar “a danger for democracy”. The Spanish socialists are, as usual, reserved, and want to “await the exact implementation of the proposal”. In Genève Julen Arzuaga, lawyer and the Basque representative in the UN-commission for the prevention of torture, is allowed to enter the UN-commission after 3 months. Spain called Arzuaga “a dangerous terrorist” and wanted to exclude him from participating in the UN. But after 3 months failing to produce any evidence against him, Arzuaga was allowed to continue his work. In an interview with the Basque newspaper Egunero, for now the successor or the outlawed newspaper Egunkaria, Javier Salutregi, former editor of the for 5 years closed Basque newspaper Egin, tells about his situation. Salutregi was for 4 months in prison after Spanish police raided the offices of Egin and was released on bail, but is still waiting for his trial, together with 200 other persons arrested in connection with the Basque struggle for independence. Three employees of Egin are still in jail, without any hope for a trial of release, and they don’t know how to defend themselves. “There are certainly resemblances between the closing of Egin and the closing of Egunkaria, but the operation against Egunkaria came as a surprise, while Egin was criminalized for years by the Basque government”, so Salutregi tells. His future doesn’t look good: “With the return of fascism the word of a police-officer that we are members of ETA is enough to convict us, we don’t have any chance of defending ourselves”. Baltasar Garzón prosecutes at the 8th of May 6 more people in the case against the outlawed Basque councillors organisation Udalbiltza; Loren Arkotxa, Xabier Iragorri, Xabier Alegria, Joseba Garmendia, Imanol Esnaola and Miren Josune Aranburu. Before, another 8 people were arrested. At the 8th of May, the organisation of Guardia Civil files a complaint against all arrested journalists and editors of Egunkaria, and the ones who are supporting them legally. They are charged with “undermining the institute of the Guardia Civil and insulting officers”. The journalists dared to file a complaint against officers of the Guardia Civil of torturing them during their detention. At the 9th of May thousands of people demonstrate and strike throughout the Basque Country with the slogan ‘Euskal Herria aurrera’ (Forward with the Basque Country) and against the outlawing of AuB. The Basque regional police (Ertzaintza) goes in with force, in Bilbao the city hall is stormed and 150 people are beaten out. The moderate Basque nationalists from the PNV and EA declare in a statement that they won’t take any action against the outlawing of AuB and call to the independentists not to vote ‘invalid’ (what a vote for AuB will be officially) because it will benefit the Spanish parties PP, UPN and PSOE. In Irun at the 9th of May Oier Imaz gets arrested by the Spanish police at orders of the Audiencia Nacional and is taken over to a prison in Madrid where he will face great risk of being tortured. Imaz is accused of participating in a campaign for boycotting tourism to Spain. At the 10th of May tens of thousands of people demonstrate in the Basque capital Bilbao, despite a double prohibition by the Basque government, against the outlawing of Udalbiltza, and behind the motto ‘Bai Udalbiltza, Bai Euskal Herriari’ (Yes to Udalbiltza, Yes to the Basque Country). The demonstration is without incidents, but the organisers will be prosecuted by the Basque ministry of Internal Affairs. At the same day Aitor García Justo, Ainhoa García Montero, Asier Aranguren Urroz and Thierry Idiart got arrested in Saintes, France by French anti-terror commando’s. The four, aged between 25 and 30 years, are said to form an operative cell of the Basque armed organisation ETA. The campaign for the support of the closed newspaper Egunkaria by 4 organisations which preaches civil disobedience, has a list of 2.100 signatures of people who plead guilty of helping and supporting Egunkaria. In Catalonia 229 accused them-selves. The Basque armed organisation ETA calls people to vote at the elections of 25 May for the 1.500 banned candidates. ETA also declared to have ended an internal debate and soon will reveal the result. And ETA declared at the Basque television (ETB) that there is no cease-fire and that ETA will not disarm as long as the Basque people don’t have the right for self-determination. The Spanish justice department starts an investigation to ETB for broadcasting the declaration. At the 9th and 10th of May in Helsinki members of MIDAS, the European organisation of 26 newspapers in minority-languages, join in a meeting. The editors of Egunkaria, also a member of MIDAS, couldn’t give presence at the meeting; Iñaki Uria is still in prison and Martxelo Otamendi is released on bail but didn’t get permission from the authorities to travel abroad. De meeting of MIDAS demanded the immediate release of Uria and sent a resolution to the European Parliament, calling the closure of Egunkaria “unfounded and undemocratic”. MIDAS also asks for an independent investigation of the EP in the closing of Egunkaria. The next annual meeting of MIDAS will be held in the Basque Country. At the 15th of May the Catalan member of the EP, Miquel Mayol, raises attention to the case of Egunkaria during a debate about the membership of Turkey of the European Union. Mayol asked how you could demand respect from Turkey for human rights, as the members of the EU, such as Spain, are in the meantime not respecting the same rights? Mayol used the example of Egunkaria to support his statement. Since the closing of Egunkaria Mayol appears on every meeting of the EU with an edition of the banned newspaper under his arm.
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