NIEUWSOVERZICHT

WEEKLY UPDATE BASQUE INFORMATION CENTRE, WEEK 20, 2 until 9 June

In Baiona, the platform Batera, founded in December 2002 by 25 cultural, social en union-organisations from the Northern Basque Country (in France), the provinces Lapurdi, Behe Naffaroa and Zuberoa, declares to be very satisfied by the local public meetings they have completed. At least 51 mayors, 331 councillors and 1.700 inhabitants participated in the talks about the 4 demands from Batera, done in connection with the French plans for decentralisation; recognition of the Basque language in the region, an own agricultural ministry, an own university and their own department.
Four of the five last week in Baiona arrested Basque youngsters of the outlawed Basque youth-organisation Segi, Haritza Galarraga, Yves Machiote, Sébastian Pinaqui and Frédéric Carricart, have begun a hunger strike to demand their release and to protest against the repression of the French State. The 5th arrested was released after paying a fine.
The Basque political prisoner Jesús Mari Etxeberria at the Valdemoro prison in Madrid, probably the jail were they will put Juanra after his extradition from The Netherlands, is on hunger strike at the moment of this writing for 47 days already, for his rights as a prisoner and against his isolation-detention. In a press- statement the prisonershelporganisation Etxerat stresses that his condition is very precarious and let know that the prison authorities, who didn’t care for the condition of Etxeberria until now, are monitoring his health every day. Iñaki Bilbao stopped his hunger strike after 34 days after being transferred to the prison of Heulva. The others Basque political prisoners at Valdemoro, who ended their hunger strike at the 17th of May and since that day refuse to leave their cells, are preparing other actions. You can also try to help improve the circumstances of Etxeberria’s detention: sent an English or Spanish letter to: Juzgado de Vigilancia Penitenciaria Madrid III 0034- 915700658 ánd Centro Penitenciario Madrid III 0034- 916924060. Complain also about the impunity of the prison- wards who beat up Etxeberria. More info about the situation in the Valdemoro-prison in this zip-file: www.behatokia.info/docs/Info/Isolamendua: Valdemoro/eng/infovaldeng.zip
The last week by France extradited Basque political prisoner Fermin Sánchez is moved from the hospital to the Soto del Real- prison in Madrid and has spoken to his lawyer and ended his hunger strike after 42 days. The Spanish justice used an old arrest-warrant for his imprisonment, which even was never used in the extradition-trial, and which is accusing Sánchez above all from the same things as for which he served his time in the French jails. The outlawed Basque prisonershelporganisation Askatasuna warns for future extraditions on this ground by France, without any juridical intervention.
At the weekly manifestations for the Basque political prisoners, this time with 5.000 participants in various villages in the Basque Country, all parties and organisations are called upon to protest for the rights of Basque prisoners and protest against the systematic violation of the rights of the Basque prisoners imprisoned in the Spanish State.
In Elsass and in the province Zaragoza (at Zuera) familymembers of imprisoned Basque political prisoners demonstrate outside the prisons. At Elsass is Jesús Maria Zabala in jail, who was beaten up last December by police officers when he had to appear in court. The prison director promised him a full investigation, but nothing happened up till now. In the prison in Zuera is Bautista Barandalla in jail, who should have been released a long time ago on health conditions. For more info about him, in zip-file: www.behatokia.info/docs/Info/Bautista Barandalla/eng/infobaraneng.zip
The complaints about torture from Martxelo Otamendi, the chief- editor of the closed Basque newspaper Euskaldunon Egunkaria, will be investigated in the end by the 5th court in Madrid. And they will finally listen to the tape with the declaration of Otamendi, which he gave the responsible judge Juan del Olmo. Otamendi predicts a “long procedure, with no intent by the Spanish authorities of putting the perpetrators behind bars”. The publication of the accusations against Egunkaria and the 10 arrested journalist, of who are still 3 in jail, is postponed again, despite the legal terms of 3 months. It remains unclear what the exact accusations are: at the time of the raids of the offices of Egunkaria, Juan del Olmo spoke about documents of ETA, who nobody saw and where found 10 years ago in which Egunkaria was mentioned.
At questions from the Basque party EA about torture, the Spanish government answered that the international institutions as the CPT (commission for the prevention of torture of the European Council) and the CAT (commission against torture of the UN) only reported torture cases without presenting evidence. That this is not true, shows the latest report of the CPT, which was kept a secret by the Spanish government for a long time: specialists of the CPT show traces of torture which are clearly backed by the statements of the victims.
At the 6th of June the ministers of Internal Affairs of the European Union officially decided to put the Basque political party Batasuna on the European black list of terrorist organisations. The decision came after a demand of the Spanish government. Aznar as well as his minister of Internal Affairs Acabes are delighted: “The ETA hasn’t any longer a cover and won’t be able to use Batasuna to spread its messages from the European Parliament. That the EU finally decided to see Batasuna as a terrorist organisation, is a heavy blow for ETA,” says Acabes. Since the death of Franco in 1975, this is the first time that a political party is banned in Spain. In the European Parliament, the representative of Batasuna, Koldo Gorostiaga, will now act as an independent member.
Since last week the trial against the political responsible for the murder on the Herri Batasuna parliamentarian Santi Brouard, killed 19 years ago by the GAL (death squad from the Spanish State), resumed. In 1993 two minor soldiers of GAL were convicted, but now the suspects police-officer José Amedo and the business man José Luis Morcillo withdrawn their statements of 1999, but are caught in contradictions. They withdrew also their acquisitions against the former governor Julián Sancristobal. The 3rd accused, the former Guardia Civil agent and drug trafficker Rafael Masa remains silent. Other political responsible, such as the ex-minister for Internal Affairs and the former secretary of State of Security are only convicted for kidnapping, but were granted amnesty by the ruling government of the Partido Popular. At the trial it was also revealed that Morcillo travelled, despite an international warrant, several times from Latin America to Spain. In the end he was arrested for drug trafficking, a side-activity of the former death squad GAL.
The juridical conflict around the removal, ordered by the Spanish High Court, of the members or parliament of the left wing independent movement in the Basque Parliament continued this week in full colour. Two years exclusion and a fine will be handed out to parliamentarians who refuse to cooperate; in this way the PP/PSOE can win a majority in the Basque Parliament. The Basque Parliament and her chairman still refuse to act on the demand; in the meeting with the spokesman in the Parliament there was not a majority in favour of removing the parliamentarians.
At Saturday the 14th of June there will be a huge welcome- festival for the new Basque newspaper Berria (New). At the 20th of June it will be officially launched, the temporary successor of Egunkaria, Egunero, (which occurred the day after the closing of Egunkaria) will disappear.

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WEEKLY UPDATE BASQUE INFORMATION CENTRE, WEEK 20, 2 until 9 June
In Baiona, the platform Batera, founded in December 2002 by 25 cultural, social en union-organisations from the Northern Basque Country (in France), the provinces Lapurdi, Behe Naffaroa and Zuberoa, declares to be very satisfied by the local public meetings they have completed. At least 51 mayors, 331 councillors and 1.700 inhabitants participated in the talks about the 4 demands from Batera, done in connection with the French plans for decentralisation; recognition of the Basque language in the region, an own agricultural ministry, an own university and their own department. Four of the five last week in Baiona arrested Basque youngsters of the outlawed Basque youth-organisation Segi, Haritza Galarraga, Yves Machiote, Sébastian Pinaqui and Frédéric Carricart, have begun a hunger strike to demand their release and to protest against the repression of the French State. The 5th arrested was released after paying a fine. The Basque political prisoner Jesús Mari Etxeberria at the Valdemoro prison in Madrid, probably the jail were they will put Juanra after his extradition from The Netherlands, is on hunger strike at the moment of this writing for 47 days already, for his rights as a prisoner and against his isolation-detention. In a press- statement the prisonershelporganisation Etxerat stresses that his condition is very precarious and let know that the prison authorities, who didn’t care for the condition of Etxeberria until now, are monitoring his health every day. Iñaki Bilbao stopped his hunger strike after 34 days after being transferred to the prison of Heulva. The others Basque political prisoners at Valdemoro, who ended their hunger strike at the 17th of May and since that day refuse to leave their cells, are preparing other actions. You can also try to help improve the circumstances of Etxeberria’s detention: sent an English or Spanish letter to: Juzgado de Vigilancia Penitenciaria Madrid III 0034- 915700658 ánd Centro Penitenciario Madrid III 0034- 916924060. Complain also about the impunity of the prison- wards who beat up Etxeberria. More info about the situation in the Valdemoro-prison in this zip-file: www.behatokia.info/docs/Info/Isolamendua: Valdemoro/eng/infovaldeng.zip The last week by France extradited Basque political prisoner Fermin Sánchez is moved from the hospital to the Soto del Real- prison in Madrid and has spoken to his lawyer and ended his hunger strike after 42 days. The Spanish justice used an old arrest-warrant for his imprisonment, which even was never used in the extradition-trial, and which is accusing Sánchez above all from the same things as for which he served his time in the French jails. The outlawed Basque prisonershelporganisation Askatasuna warns for future extraditions on this ground by France, without any juridical intervention. At the weekly manifestations for the Basque political prisoners, this time with 5.000 participants in various villages in the Basque Country, all parties and organisations are called upon to protest for the rights of Basque prisoners and protest against the systematic violation of the rights of the Basque prisoners imprisoned in the Spanish State. In Elsass and in the province Zaragoza (at Zuera) familymembers of imprisoned Basque political prisoners demonstrate outside the prisons. At Elsass is Jesús Maria Zabala in jail, who was beaten up last December by police officers when he had to appear in court. The prison director promised him a full investigation, but nothing happened up till now. In the prison in Zuera is Bautista Barandalla in jail, who should have been released a long time ago on health conditions. For more info about him, in zip-file: www.behatokia.info/docs/Info/Bautista Barandalla/eng/infobaraneng.zip The complaints about torture from Martxelo Otamendi, the chief- editor of the closed Basque newspaper Euskaldunon Egunkaria, will be investigated in the end by the 5th court in Madrid. And they will finally listen to the tape with the declaration of Otamendi, which he gave the responsible judge Juan del Olmo. Otamendi predicts a “long procedure, with no intent by the Spanish authorities of putting the perpetrators behind bars”. The publication of the accusations against Egunkaria and the 10 arrested journalist, of who are still 3 in jail, is postponed again, despite the legal terms of 3 months. It remains unclear what the exact accusations are: at the time of the raids of the offices of Egunkaria, Juan del Olmo spoke about documents of ETA, who nobody saw and where found 10 years ago in which Egunkaria was mentioned. At questions from the Basque party EA about torture, the Spanish government answered that the international institutions as the CPT (commission for the prevention of torture of the European Council) and the CAT (commission against torture of the UN) only reported torture cases without presenting evidence. That this is not true, shows the latest report of the CPT, which was kept a secret by the Spanish government for a long time: specialists of the CPT show traces of torture which are clearly backed by the statements of the victims. At the 6th of June the ministers of Internal Affairs of the European Union officially decided to put the Basque political party Batasuna on the European black list of terrorist organisations. The decision came after a demand of the Spanish government. Aznar as well as his minister of Internal Affairs Acabes are delighted: “The ETA hasn’t any longer a cover and won’t be able to use Batasuna to spread its messages from the European Parliament. That the EU finally decided to see Batasuna as a terrorist organisation, is a heavy blow for ETA,” says Acabes. Since the death of Franco in 1975, this is the first time that a political party is banned in Spain. In the European Parliament, the representative of Batasuna, Koldo Gorostiaga, will now act as an independent member. Since last week the trial against the political responsible for the murder on the Herri Batasuna parliamentarian Santi Brouard, killed 19 years ago by the GAL (death squad from the Spanish State), resumed. In 1993 two minor soldiers of GAL were convicted, but now the suspects police-officer José Amedo and the business man José Luis Morcillo withdrawn their statements of 1999, but are caught in contradictions. They withdrew also their acquisitions against the former governor Julián Sancristobal. The 3rd accused, the former Guardia Civil agent and drug trafficker Rafael Masa remains silent. Other political responsible, such as the ex-minister for Internal Affairs and the former secretary of State of Security are only convicted for kidnapping, but were granted amnesty by the ruling government of the Partido Popular. At the trial it was also revealed that Morcillo travelled, despite an international warrant, several times from Latin America to Spain. In the end he was arrested for drug trafficking, a side-activity of the former death squad GAL. The juridical conflict around the removal, ordered by the Spanish High Court, of the members or parliament of the left wing independent movement in the Basque Parliament continued this week in full colour. Two years exclusion and a fine will be handed out to parliamentarians who refuse to cooperate; in this way the PP/PSOE can win a majority in the Basque Parliament. The Basque Parliament and her chairman still refuse to act on the demand; in the meeting with the spokesman in the Parliament there was not a majority in favour of removing the parliamentarians. At Saturday the 14th of June there will be a huge welcome- festival for the new Basque newspaper Berria (New). At the 20th of June it will be officially launched, the temporary successor of Egunkaria, Egunero, (which occurred the day after the closing of Egunkaria) will disappear.
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