NIEUWSOVERZICHT

WEEKLY UPDATE BASQUE INFORMATION CENTRE, WEEK 22, 20 until 29 June

The Spanish ambassador in Germany, José Rodriguez-Spiteri writes in a letter to the German newspaper Tageszeitung, that “only a mistake can lead to the statement that torture exists in Spanish prisons” (as said in a editorial from Bernard Pickert in the Taz) and comes with the old lie that “ETA and her ‘umfeld’ prisoners instructs to always file complaints about torture”. However, when torture does occur, “the judge will call the guilty ones with all the force of the law to responsibility”. Spiteri ends his letter with calling the Spanish society “a society with universal democratic freedoms”.
The Baskische police Ertzaintza arrested the youngsters Aner Gomez, Aingeru Cardaño, Oskar Perez, Unai and Naiara Mallabia and Aitor Fernandez at the 17th of June in Bilbao on suspicion of actions with the Kale Borokka (street actions from youth).
At Baiona Tomas Daguerre, Pettan Senacq, Jon Irigoyen, Franc Gramont, Mikel Berasaluze, Egoitz Urritikoetxea and Patxi Etxart are arrested on the 17th of June on orders from the ‘anti- terror’- judge Le Vert. They are accused of supporting the Basque youth organisation Segi. Segi, however outlawed by Garzon, is still a legal organisation in France. All arrested people are released now.
At the 20th of June the Spanish High Court orders the Basque regional parliament that they must remove “radically and definite” the 7 members of Sozialista Abertzalak from the benches of the parliament. The Sozialista Abertzalak was formed by the members of the in march banned Basque political party Batasuna. The High Court says the voting in parliament, in which the banning was ruled out because the rules of the parliament do not foresee removing a party, was illegal because of the participation of Sozialista Abertzalak. The Spanish prosecutor Jesús Cardenal has accused the chairman of parliament Juan Maria Atutxa (from the Basque Christian democrats PNV), Conchi Bilbao from the IU (United Left) and Gorka Knörr from the Basque Solidarity-party EA of disobedience. With the accusing of Bilbao, who never participated in the voting, it becomes clear that this juridical attack is aimed at trying to undermine the functioning of the governing Basque political parties. It became more evident when the chairman of the High Court stated that with this conflict even the Autonomous Status of the Basque Country was at risk. However, the 7 from Sozialista Abertzalak can, even when their party is actually removed, still turn to another party.
At the 20th of June the new Basque Daily Berria occurs in the newsagents in an amount of 50.000 copies. The newspaper is received very positive by the Basque society and was sold out in the afternoon already.
The Spanish Social Insurance department demands at the 20th of June from the two companies ‘Baigorri’ and ‘KIE’, who are responsible for giving out the leftwing Basque daily GARA, the debts of the company what used to be responsible for the, in July 1998 without any prove or trial closed by temporary measure, Basque daily Egin (and the radio station with the same name). The debt is 5.1 million Euro. Between Baigorri, KIE and Orain exist no connections and it is seen as a political move to try to ruin GARA, as so called successor of Egin, by taking them in a financial strangle. From the 5th of July the notorious judge Garzón can seize the goods of GARA.
In Donostia the prisonerhelpgroup Etxerat declares that the number of Basque political prisoners raised with 35 since the beginning of Mai 2003.
In Getxo a bomb explodes at the Hotel Los Tamarises on the 23th of June, causing minor damage and no casualties. An anonymous caller from ETA phoned the Basque newspaper GARA half an hour before detonation and the Hotel and the surrounding area where cleared by the Ertzaintza’s. Enrique Villar, representative of the Partido Popular in the Basque parliament immediately accused the mayor of Getxo, Iñaki Zarraoa, of “not doing enough preventing this kind of attacks”.
In the second trial at the 25th of June about the murder case from 1984 on the former Herri Batasuna-leader Santi Brouard Rafael Masa (former colonel from the Guardia Civil), Jose Amedo (former chief of the Spanish police in Bilbao) and Jose Luis Morcillo (a businessman involved in drug trafficking) are acquitted. The first two were accused of plotting the murder, the 3rd of the murder itself, together with Rafael Lopez Ocaña, who was sentenced after the first trial in 1993. According to the judge there was not enough evidence. During the hearings in court the accused, as well as witnesses, withdrew statements, told deliberately lies, denied facts and one of the witnesses didn’t show up despite police protection. This witness declared in an earlier statement that the highest chief of the Guardia Civil, the highest people from the social democratic PSOE (in power during the GAL, the Spanish anti terror group) and the now acquitted had ordered on the formation meeting of the GAL the murder on 15 persons, including Santi Brouard.
At the 26th of June there is a noisy protest at the Bijlmerbajes in Amsterdam, where Juanra was transferred (on request). For pictures www.freejuanra.org/nl/03-06-26.html Juanra’s new address to sent post to: Juan Ramón Rodríguez Fernández, PI Amsterdam, Locatie Het Schouw Postbus 41901, 1009 CE Amsterdam.
Miguel Sanz, president of the Autonomous Community of Naffaroa, accuses the Socialist party of Naffaroa, the PSN, at the 27th of June of being unclear about their distance from ETA. The IUN (United Left of Naffaroa) was also under attack of Sanz; he claimed that their political thinking was not from this time and also Aralar (left Basque party) was “lacking every form of democratic credibility”, because Aralar uses “some ideological criteria of ETA”. Sanz brought all this to criminalize the protests from PSN, IUN and Aralar against the plans of the Partido Popular and the Nafforoan Democrats (a split from the PP) in Naffaroa (UPN and CDN) to privatise the healthcare.
Activists from all over the Basque Country come together in Gasteiz at the 28th of June for the opening of the Basque Social Forum. Environmentalists, trade unionists, workers, internationalists, feminists, Basqofiles etc, are going to work together to build a power against “the Spanish capitalist system”.
At the same day the Euskal Preso Politikoen Kolektiboa (Basque political prisoners collective) presents the results after two years of discussion in their ranks. The political prisoners want to emphasize that is was a though job to discuss, while all of them are spread around the Spanish and French states and also want to emphasize the plurality of their collective. The political prisoners all worked, before they were ‘kidnapped’ for organisations as ETA, Ekin, Segi, Haika, Batasuna or a prisoner collective. They want to struggle on two fronts: for better conditions in the prisons in which they are and they want to play an active role in the liberation struggle for the Basque Country.

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WEEKLY UPDATE BASQUE INFORMATION CENTRE, WEEK 22, 20 until 29 June
The Spanish ambassador in Germany, José Rodriguez-Spiteri writes in a letter to the German newspaper Tageszeitung, that “only a mistake can lead to the statement that torture exists in Spanish prisons” (as said in a editorial from Bernard Pickert in the Taz) and comes with the old lie that “ETA and her ‘umfeld’ prisoners instructs to always file complaints about torture”. However, when torture does occur, “the judge will call the guilty ones with all the force of the law to responsibility”. Spiteri ends his letter with calling the Spanish society “a society with universal democratic freedoms”. The Baskische police Ertzaintza arrested the youngsters Aner Gomez, Aingeru Cardaño, Oskar Perez, Unai and Naiara Mallabia and Aitor Fernandez at the 17th of June in Bilbao on suspicion of actions with the Kale Borokka (street actions from youth). At Baiona Tomas Daguerre, Pettan Senacq, Jon Irigoyen, Franc Gramont, Mikel Berasaluze, Egoitz Urritikoetxea and Patxi Etxart are arrested on the 17th of June on orders from the ‘anti- terror’- judge Le Vert. They are accused of supporting the Basque youth organisation Segi. Segi, however outlawed by Garzon, is still a legal organisation in France. All arrested people are released now. At the 20th of June the Spanish High Court orders the Basque regional parliament that they must remove “radically and definite” the 7 members of Sozialista Abertzalak from the benches of the parliament. The Sozialista Abertzalak was formed by the members of the in march banned Basque political party Batasuna. The High Court says the voting in parliament, in which the banning was ruled out because the rules of the parliament do not foresee removing a party, was illegal because of the participation of Sozialista Abertzalak. The Spanish prosecutor Jesús Cardenal has accused the chairman of parliament Juan Maria Atutxa (from the Basque Christian democrats PNV), Conchi Bilbao from the IU (United Left) and Gorka Knörr from the Basque Solidarity-party EA of disobedience. With the accusing of Bilbao, who never participated in the voting, it becomes clear that this juridical attack is aimed at trying to undermine the functioning of the governing Basque political parties. It became more evident when the chairman of the High Court stated that with this conflict even the Autonomous Status of the Basque Country was at risk. However, the 7 from Sozialista Abertzalak can, even when their party is actually removed, still turn to another party. At the 20th of June the new Basque Daily Berria occurs in the newsagents in an amount of 50.000 copies. The newspaper is received very positive by the Basque society and was sold out in the afternoon already. The Spanish Social Insurance department demands at the 20th of June from the two companies ‘Baigorri’ and ‘KIE’, who are responsible for giving out the leftwing Basque daily GARA, the debts of the company what used to be responsible for the, in July 1998 without any prove or trial closed by temporary measure, Basque daily Egin (and the radio station with the same name). The debt is 5.1 million Euro. Between Baigorri, KIE and Orain exist no connections and it is seen as a political move to try to ruin GARA, as so called successor of Egin, by taking them in a financial strangle. From the 5th of July the notorious judge Garzón can seize the goods of GARA. In Donostia the prisonerhelpgroup Etxerat declares that the number of Basque political prisoners raised with 35 since the beginning of Mai 2003. In Getxo a bomb explodes at the Hotel Los Tamarises on the 23th of June, causing minor damage and no casualties. An anonymous caller from ETA phoned the Basque newspaper GARA half an hour before detonation and the Hotel and the surrounding area where cleared by the Ertzaintza’s. Enrique Villar, representative of the Partido Popular in the Basque parliament immediately accused the mayor of Getxo, Iñaki Zarraoa, of “not doing enough preventing this kind of attacks”. In the second trial at the 25th of June about the murder case from 1984 on the former Herri Batasuna-leader Santi Brouard Rafael Masa (former colonel from the Guardia Civil), Jose Amedo (former chief of the Spanish police in Bilbao) and Jose Luis Morcillo (a businessman involved in drug trafficking) are acquitted. The first two were accused of plotting the murder, the 3rd of the murder itself, together with Rafael Lopez Ocaña, who was sentenced after the first trial in 1993. According to the judge there was not enough evidence. During the hearings in court the accused, as well as witnesses, withdrew statements, told deliberately lies, denied facts and one of the witnesses didn’t show up despite police protection. This witness declared in an earlier statement that the highest chief of the Guardia Civil, the highest people from the social democratic PSOE (in power during the GAL, the Spanish anti terror group) and the now acquitted had ordered on the formation meeting of the GAL the murder on 15 persons, including Santi Brouard. At the 26th of June there is a noisy protest at the Bijlmerbajes in Amsterdam, where Juanra was transferred (on request). For pictures www.freejuanra.org/nl/03-06-26.html Juanra’s new address to sent post to: Juan Ramón Rodríguez Fernández, PI Amsterdam, Locatie Het Schouw Postbus 41901, 1009 CE Amsterdam. Miguel Sanz, president of the Autonomous Community of Naffaroa, accuses the Socialist party of Naffaroa, the PSN, at the 27th of June of being unclear about their distance from ETA. The IUN (United Left of Naffaroa) was also under attack of Sanz; he claimed that their political thinking was not from this time and also Aralar (left Basque party) was “lacking every form of democratic credibility”, because Aralar uses “some ideological criteria of ETA”. Sanz brought all this to criminalize the protests from PSN, IUN and Aralar against the plans of the Partido Popular and the Nafforoan Democrats (a split from the PP) in Naffaroa (UPN and CDN) to privatise the healthcare. Activists from all over the Basque Country come together in Gasteiz at the 28th of June for the opening of the Basque Social Forum. Environmentalists, trade unionists, workers, internationalists, feminists, Basqofiles etc, are going to work together to build a power against “the Spanish capitalist system”. At the same day the Euskal Preso Politikoen Kolektiboa (Basque political prisoners collective) presents the results after two years of discussion in their ranks. The political prisoners want to emphasize that is was a though job to discuss, while all of them are spread around the Spanish and French states and also want to emphasize the plurality of their collective. The political prisoners all worked, before they were ‘kidnapped’ for organisations as ETA, Ekin, Segi, Haika, Batasuna or a prisoner collective. They want to struggle on two fronts: for better conditions in the prisons in which they are and they want to play an active role in the liberation struggle for the Basque Country.
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