NIEUWSOVERZICHT

WEEKLY UPDATE BASQUE INFORMATION CENTRE, WEEK 28, 7 August until 23rd of August

The prisonhelporganisation Askatasuna and lawyers of Basque prisoners criticized the decision of the French High Court, in which the handing over of Basque prisoners to Spain is allowed. With this decision suspects have to prove themselves that they are subjected to torture themselves when they are extradited to Spain.
Askatasuna also criticizes the verdict of the court in Nürnberg, who gave permission to extradite Paulo Elkoro to Spain. According to Askatasuna Elkoro’s arrest was based on a statement given under torture, Elkoro’s statement itself came also under torture and the signatures on that statement were falsified. During the ‘incommunicado’-detention in 1998 from Elkoro in Spain, doctors found several wounds. And despite that the court in Nürnberg admits that torture exists in Spain, they don’t think it is proven that Elkoro will be ‘inevitable’ confronted with torture when extradited. And Spain signed the Treaty of Human Rights, is a member of the European Union and has taken the convention against torture as part of her constitution. And when two countries have an extradition treaty, one shouldn’t interfere with domestic laws. That the statements of two other suspects in this case, on which the acquisitions against Elkoro are based, were withdrawn before the judge of the Audiencia Nacional in Madrid, because they were subjected to torture with electrodes and the notorious plastic bag (‘Bolsa’, put around the neck until you faint of suffocation), was covered up in the Spanish extradition request. The court of Nürnberg didn’t feel obliged to check this evidence, although the anti-torture committee of the UN, of which Spain is also a member, this explicitly orders. Elkoro is threatened to be extradited before his asylum request and there is still a criminal investigation going on to the surroundings in which Elkoro lived in Germany since 2000. Elkoro is one of the many Basque youngsters who, being active in the outlawed youth organisation Jarrai, was forced to flee because the Spanish state marked all the activities of the banned Basque youth organisation Jarrai as ‘terrorist’. Elkoro is still under high security conditions in München. Elkoro is 29 years old; his father was a member of the leadership of Herri Batasuna and was put in jail, his brother, a lawyer of Basque political refugees (among others of Esteban Murillo who was extradited from the Netherlands in July 2000), also. You can send protest letters in German to parliamentarians who maybe can ask questions about the extradition (CLICK HERE FOR AN EXAMPLE). A radiobroadcast in German you’ll find here
The human rights commission of the United Nations handed out a report of the Basque human rights organisation Behatokia to her members. The internal report describes the common practice of torture in the Spanish State, as well as the systematic criminalisation of various Basque organisations, the Basque press and Basque political parties.
The Basque political prisoner Pepe Turillas Aranzeta from Deba was, as only know is made public, 5 months ago extradited from France to Spain and locked up in the prison Soto del Real in Madrid. Aranzeta is accused of cooperation in an attempt to an attack in Donostia in 1992. In this case already 6 others were arrested in 2001; Josetxo Arizkuren, Julen Atxurra, Juan Luis Agirre Lete, Irantzu Gallastegi, Agurtzane Delgado and Juan Carlos Iglesias. Aranzeta already was in prison for 9 years in the prison of Poissy in France. Neither his family nor his lawyers were notified of the extradition.
Ada Edwards, city councillor in Houston and chairman of the committee for Internal Security in Houston, United States, writes a letter to the Spanish ambassador to protest against the imprisonment and the detention conditions of the president of the outlawed Basque organisation of city councillors Udalbiltza, Loren Arkotza. “His arrest under the Spanish anti-terror laws, which apparently approve with the outlawing of political parties, the forced closing of newspapers, as well as the arrest of individuals on bases of their political opinion, is a reminder for the Americans of the ‘dark days’ under Franco’s dictatorship”. Edwards demands the immediate release of Arkotza and the respect for the rights of all peoples in Spain.
At the 8th of August thousands of people demonstrate in the Basque Country at the weekly manifestations of the prisonhelporganisation Etxerat, this time for the return of the Basque prisoners to prisons in their home country. The last month only in 2 of the 17 transfer cases of Basque political prisoners, they were put closer to home. It is a clear strategy of the Spanish state to spread Basque prisoners throughout the Spanish state to punish them and their family extra and to try to break solidarity. The human rights organisation Behatokia calculated that the total amount families have to pay to travel to their relatives in prison is 10.291.914 Euro’s each year. In the 16 tears this dispersion politic is used already 13 people died in car accidents while travelling to or back from a prison visit. The average distance from the 670 Basque prisoners away from home is 637 kilometres; only 30 of them are in prison in the Basque Country. In the notorious prison Soto del Real in Madrid the list of people who are allowed to visit, is only limited to 10 people, what makes it harder for the family, who won’t let the rare visiting hours to pas unused. The demand for the return of the Basque political prisoners is supported by the whole Basque political spectrum.
In Donostia thousands of sympathisers of the left independent movement demonstrate at the 10th of August under the slogan ‘No Apartheid. Self-determination.’ The meeting was banned at first by the Basque Government (at orders of judge Baltasar Garzón of 26th August and the 6th of September 2002, in which it is forbidden for Herri Batasuna, Euskal Herritarok and Batasuna to stage demonstrations), but eventually permitted at appeal by the Basque High Court. Arnaldo Otegi, spokesman of the outlawed left Basque party Batasuna, said in a speech that the left Basques will continue to work on their projects despite outlawings and prosecutions and he offered once again his cooperation to the other Basque parties to work together to bring closer the self determination of the Basque Country.
At the 11th of August the Audiencia Nacional files complaints on orders of Madrid to the organisers of the march in Donostia the day before of ‘insulting the Spanish flag’ and the ‘glorification of terrorist acts’. To the end of the demonstration some youth burned a Spanish flag and some slogans (‘Basque Country and Freedom’, Struggle is the only way’ and ‘Basque flag yes, Spanish no’). The events led, as to be expected, to nationalist turmoil in the Spanish press and politics. In this context the Basque High Court was accused of being partial. The Basque police Ertzaintza gave information about all ex-members of Batasuna who participated in the march to the Audiencia Nacional, but couldn’t give any information about who burned the flag and shouted the slogans.
At the 12th of August the Basque Government banned a meeting in Donostia with the reason that the organisers have links with Batasuna. The two coalition partners of the PNV in the Basque Government, the civil nationalistic party EA and United Left (IU) were against the banning. The meeting is staged every year for the last 20 years at the 15th of August in Donostia. At the 14th of August the Basque High Court supports the ban; “The work of the Basque police to prevent criminal acts can lead to endangerment of people”. By this measure a part of the Basque people isn’t able to exercise his right to freedom of speech. The change in attitude by the Basque High Court is probably under pressure of Madrid.
The Basque political prisoner Gabino Etxeberria is put across the border in Catalonia by the French authorities after he did his time in prison in France. At the border family and friends welcomed him and the Spanish police checked his papers. At the way back home he and his company were subdued to a control again and Spanish police kept them for hours.
At The 15th of August the Basque police occupies the place for the annual meeting in Donostia, but hundreds of people manage to gather at another place in the town, without causing any disturbance. Joseba Permach, one of the spokesmen of the outlawed party Batasuna said that a ‘massacre’ as happened on the 14th of September last year in Bilbao, was only hindered by the calm attitude of the demonstrators, who let the provocations of the police and the government unanswered. Lyrics as ‘Ertzaintza tortures’ and ‘Is this Ibarretxe’s plan?’ were shouted, the latter pointing at the plan of the Basque president Ibarretxe for a free association and shared sovereignty with Spain.
The 6 Basques who were arrested at the 18th and 19th of July in Mexico are not being extradited pending the procedure. The lawyers Bárbara Zamora and Santos Garcia said that a request for legal council was recognised by the court and they avoided a rapid extradition with this. At the same time the lawyers are complaining that there is no evidence whatsoever against the 6 and that there is a permanent observation of Basques by plainclothes cops, who say they are Mexican but have a specific Spanish accent. The cooperation between Spain and Mexico is not new, since 1990 there exists a network of Spanish spies who try to index the Basques refugees living there. In January 2000 Mexico extradites 4 Basques to Spain, at the `18th of February the Basque political refugee Oscar Cardenas is extradited, this time for the first as a political case. In March 2000 Mexico gets the reward of Spain; with the 15 EU-member states a free trade treaty is signed, initiated by Spain. In November 2002 follows the arrest and extradition of Jose Antonio Borde and Jose Miguel Extendia. Extendia lived in Mexico for 8 years and was tortured after being extradited to Madrid. In April 2003 Lorenzo Llona was arrested because he refused to give information about Basque refugees to the Spanish secret service. With the last arrests bank accounts of relatives were also frozen and the father of one of them was arrested at the same time in the Basque Country, because he should have sent his son some money.
The Berlin lawyer Petra Schlagenhauf defends the German Gabriele Kanze, who was extradited by Switzerland to Spain 7 months ago and since then waits for her trial in a Spanish prison. Schlagenhauf: “The right of Defence is better arranged in Germany than in Spain. You can’t enter new evidence when the time is over for it. (…) We expect at the earliest a first hearing at the beginning of 2004. It is not unusual in Spain that it takes so long, so complaining is of no use, despite the fact that this case started already in 1998. After the extradition we made a request for temporarily release, and there will be dealt with a the 12th of September, but we have no illusions whatsoever. (…) The concrete acquisitions against Gabriele Kanze are that she rented with her, at that time friend, now husband, apartments and gave them in use to people of ETA. The acquisition however is based on a statement from another suspect, which was given under torture by the Spanish police. He names the apartment, but doesn’t know Gabriele. In the arrest warrant it says furthermore that there were weapons and explosives found in the apartments, but that didn’t happen. The husband of Gabriele, Benjamin Ramos Vega, who was extradited some years ago by Germany to Spain, was acquitted before of the same acquisitions, so we are working on the same for Gabriele. (…) The circumstances of the detention are hard for Gabriele; she suffers psychologically much under the insecurity. (…) Publicity and openness are very important in this case, Spain has to be more careful and for Gabriele it is very important that there are people who take action around this case.” (…)
At the 22nd of August former employees of the 6 months ago closed Basque Daily Egunkaria staged meetings in Bilbao and Donostia to demand the release of their imprisoned colleagues. Numerous leading personalities from unions, media, language-institutes, local politics and lawyers took part in the protests. They carried pictures of Iñaki Uria, Xabier Alegria and Xabier Oleaga, who are still in jail waiting for their trial in the case ‘Egunkaria’.
In Paris will start at the 8th of September the trial against Aberto Rey Domecq, arrested in January last year. Domecq is accused of ‘membership of a terrorist organisation’ and ‘violently attacking the police’. According to Spanish authorities Domecq was a former member of an ETA-cell that was responsible for various attacks in Madrid.
The Basque High Court rejects an appeal of the Spanish procurer- general against the permission of a demonstration with the motto ‘No Apartheid. Selfdetermination.’ For the 22nd of August in Bilbao. The ministry of Internal Affairs of the Basque Country gave permission and from Madrid it was tried to overrule this with the reason that ‘there was a high risk of disturbing public order’ and that ‘the demonstration’s aim was not to give out a political message but stage terrorist activities’. Despite that the demonstration was called for by a former member of the outlawed party Batasuna, the High Court ruled that ‘he didn’t loose his political and civil rights with that’. In the end thousands of people demonstrated in Bilbao. The Spanish minister of Justice, Jose Maria Michavila is outrageous; “The friends of ETA and her accomplices are permitted to walk freely in the streets, only because the Basque government gave permission. The only oxygen ETA still gets, isolated from all democratic institutes in Spain and Europe, is from that institutions where the PNV is in power”. He called on the PNV “to stop being the official sponsor of ETA, Batasuna and the friends of terrorism”.
In Naffaroa the High Court permits the banning of two demonstrations under the slogan ‘No Apartheid. Selfdetermination.’ planned in Iruñea (26th of August) and in Berriozar (23rd August) with the reason that there is a ‘risk of disturbance of public order’ and that ‘it is the same lyric as at earlier demonstrations’ and ‘that there would be links with Batasuna’. It is also feared that ‘it is possible that symbols of the Spanish State could be insulted and it could happen that support for terrorism is spoken out’.

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WEEKLY UPDATE BASQUE INFORMATION CENTRE, WEEK 28, 7 August until 23rd of August
The prisonhelporganisation Askatasuna and lawyers of Basque prisoners criticized the decision of the French High Court, in which the handing over of Basque prisoners to Spain is allowed. With this decision suspects have to prove themselves that they are subjected to torture themselves when they are extradited to Spain. Askatasuna also criticizes the verdict of the court in Nürnberg, who gave permission to extradite Paulo Elkoro to Spain. According to Askatasuna Elkoro’s arrest was based on a statement given under torture, Elkoro’s statement itself came also under torture and the signatures on that statement were falsified. During the ‘incommunicado’-detention in 1998 from Elkoro in Spain, doctors found several wounds. And despite that the court in Nürnberg admits that torture exists in Spain, they don’t think it is proven that Elkoro will be ‘inevitable’ confronted with torture when extradited. And Spain signed the Treaty of Human Rights, is a member of the European Union and has taken the convention against torture as part of her constitution. And when two countries have an extradition treaty, one shouldn’t interfere with domestic laws. That the statements of two other suspects in this case, on which the acquisitions against Elkoro are based, were withdrawn before the judge of the Audiencia Nacional in Madrid, because they were subjected to torture with electrodes and the notorious plastic bag (‘Bolsa’, put around the neck until you faint of suffocation), was covered up in the Spanish extradition request. The court of Nürnberg didn’t feel obliged to check this evidence, although the anti-torture committee of the UN, of which Spain is also a member, this explicitly orders. Elkoro is threatened to be extradited before his asylum request and there is still a criminal investigation going on to the surroundings in which Elkoro lived in Germany since 2000. Elkoro is one of the many Basque youngsters who, being active in the outlawed youth organisation Jarrai, was forced to flee because the Spanish state marked all the activities of the banned Basque youth organisation Jarrai as ‘terrorist’. Elkoro is still under high security conditions in München. Elkoro is 29 years old; his father was a member of the leadership of Herri Batasuna and was put in jail, his brother, a lawyer of Basque political refugees (among others of Esteban Murillo who was extradited from the Netherlands in July 2000), also. You can send protest letters in German to parliamentarians who maybe can ask questions about the extradition (CLICK HERE FOR AN EXAMPLE). A radiobroadcast in German you’ll find here The human rights commission of the United Nations handed out a report of the Basque human rights organisation Behatokia to her members. The internal report describes the common practice of torture in the Spanish State, as well as the systematic criminalisation of various Basque organisations, the Basque press and Basque political parties. The Basque political prisoner Pepe Turillas Aranzeta from Deba was, as only know is made public, 5 months ago extradited from France to Spain and locked up in the prison Soto del Real in Madrid. Aranzeta is accused of cooperation in an attempt to an attack in Donostia in 1992. In this case already 6 others were arrested in 2001; Josetxo Arizkuren, Julen Atxurra, Juan Luis Agirre Lete, Irantzu Gallastegi, Agurtzane Delgado and Juan Carlos Iglesias. Aranzeta already was in prison for 9 years in the prison of Poissy in France. Neither his family nor his lawyers were notified of the extradition. Ada Edwards, city councillor in Houston and chairman of the committee for Internal Security in Houston, United States, writes a letter to the Spanish ambassador to protest against the imprisonment and the detention conditions of the president of the outlawed Basque organisation of city councillors Udalbiltza, Loren Arkotza. “His arrest under the Spanish anti-terror laws, which apparently approve with the outlawing of political parties, the forced closing of newspapers, as well as the arrest of individuals on bases of their political opinion, is a reminder for the Americans of the ‘dark days’ under Franco’s dictatorship”. Edwards demands the immediate release of Arkotza and the respect for the rights of all peoples in Spain. At the 8th of August thousands of people demonstrate in the Basque Country at the weekly manifestations of the prisonhelporganisation Etxerat, this time for the return of the Basque prisoners to prisons in their home country. The last month only in 2 of the 17 transfer cases of Basque political prisoners, they were put closer to home. It is a clear strategy of the Spanish state to spread Basque prisoners throughout the Spanish state to punish them and their family extra and to try to break solidarity. The human rights organisation Behatokia calculated that the total amount families have to pay to travel to their relatives in prison is 10.291.914 Euro’s each year. In the 16 tears this dispersion politic is used already 13 people died in car accidents while travelling to or back from a prison visit. The average distance from the 670 Basque prisoners away from home is 637 kilometres; only 30 of them are in prison in the Basque Country. In the notorious prison Soto del Real in Madrid the list of people who are allowed to visit, is only limited to 10 people, what makes it harder for the family, who won’t let the rare visiting hours to pas unused. The demand for the return of the Basque political prisoners is supported by the whole Basque political spectrum. In Donostia thousands of sympathisers of the left independent movement demonstrate at the 10th of August under the slogan ‘No Apartheid. Self-determination.’ The meeting was banned at first by the Basque Government (at orders of judge Baltasar Garzón of 26th August and the 6th of September 2002, in which it is forbidden for Herri Batasuna, Euskal Herritarok and Batasuna to stage demonstrations), but eventually permitted at appeal by the Basque High Court. Arnaldo Otegi, spokesman of the outlawed left Basque party Batasuna, said in a speech that the left Basques will continue to work on their projects despite outlawings and prosecutions and he offered once again his cooperation to the other Basque parties to work together to bring closer the self determination of the Basque Country. At the 11th of August the Audiencia Nacional files complaints on orders of Madrid to the organisers of the march in Donostia the day before of ‘insulting the Spanish flag’ and the ‘glorification of terrorist acts’. To the end of the demonstration some youth burned a Spanish flag and some slogans (‘Basque Country and Freedom’, Struggle is the only way’ and ‘Basque flag yes, Spanish no’). The events led, as to be expected, to nationalist turmoil in the Spanish press and politics. In this context the Basque High Court was accused of being partial. The Basque police Ertzaintza gave information about all ex-members of Batasuna who participated in the march to the Audiencia Nacional, but couldn’t give any information about who burned the flag and shouted the slogans. At the 12th of August the Basque Government banned a meeting in Donostia with the reason that the organisers have links with Batasuna. The two coalition partners of the PNV in the Basque Government, the civil nationalistic party EA and United Left (IU) were against the banning. The meeting is staged every year for the last 20 years at the 15th of August in Donostia. At the 14th of August the Basque High Court supports the ban; “The work of the Basque police to prevent criminal acts can lead to endangerment of people”. By this measure a part of the Basque people isn’t able to exercise his right to freedom of speech. The change in attitude by the Basque High Court is probably under pressure of Madrid. The Basque political prisoner Gabino Etxeberria is put across the border in Catalonia by the French authorities after he did his time in prison in France. At the border family and friends welcomed him and the Spanish police checked his papers. At the way back home he and his company were subdued to a control again and Spanish police kept them for hours. At The 15th of August the Basque police occupies the place for the annual meeting in Donostia, but hundreds of people manage to gather at another place in the town, without causing any disturbance. Joseba Permach, one of the spokesmen of the outlawed party Batasuna said that a ‘massacre’ as happened on the 14th of September last year in Bilbao, was only hindered by the calm attitude of the demonstrators, who let the provocations of the police and the government unanswered. Lyrics as ‘Ertzaintza tortures’ and ‘Is this Ibarretxe’s plan?’ were shouted, the latter pointing at the plan of the Basque president Ibarretxe for a free association and shared sovereignty with Spain. The 6 Basques who were arrested at the 18th and 19th of July in Mexico are not being extradited pending the procedure. The lawyers Bárbara Zamora and Santos Garcia said that a request for legal council was recognised by the court and they avoided a rapid extradition with this. At the same time the lawyers are complaining that there is no evidence whatsoever against the 6 and that there is a permanent observation of Basques by plainclothes cops, who say they are Mexican but have a specific Spanish accent. The cooperation between Spain and Mexico is not new, since 1990 there exists a network of Spanish spies who try to index the Basques refugees living there. In January 2000 Mexico extradites 4 Basques to Spain, at the `18th of February the Basque political refugee Oscar Cardenas is extradited, this time for the first as a political case. In March 2000 Mexico gets the reward of Spain; with the 15 EU-member states a free trade treaty is signed, initiated by Spain. In November 2002 follows the arrest and extradition of Jose Antonio Borde and Jose Miguel Extendia. Extendia lived in Mexico for 8 years and was tortured after being extradited to Madrid. In April 2003 Lorenzo Llona was arrested because he refused to give information about Basque refugees to the Spanish secret service. With the last arrests bank accounts of relatives were also frozen and the father of one of them was arrested at the same time in the Basque Country, because he should have sent his son some money. The Berlin lawyer Petra Schlagenhauf defends the German Gabriele Kanze, who was extradited by Switzerland to Spain 7 months ago and since then waits for her trial in a Spanish prison. Schlagenhauf: “The right of Defence is better arranged in Germany than in Spain. You can’t enter new evidence when the time is over for it. (…) We expect at the earliest a first hearing at the beginning of 2004. It is not unusual in Spain that it takes so long, so complaining is of no use, despite the fact that this case started already in 1998. After the extradition we made a request for temporarily release, and there will be dealt with a the 12th of September, but we have no illusions whatsoever. (…) The concrete acquisitions against Gabriele Kanze are that she rented with her, at that time friend, now husband, apartments and gave them in use to people of ETA. The acquisition however is based on a statement from another suspect, which was given under torture by the Spanish police. He names the apartment, but doesn’t know Gabriele. In the arrest warrant it says furthermore that there were weapons and explosives found in the apartments, but that didn’t happen. The husband of Gabriele, Benjamin Ramos Vega, who was extradited some years ago by Germany to Spain, was acquitted before of the same acquisitions, so we are working on the same for Gabriele. (…) The circumstances of the detention are hard for Gabriele; she suffers psychologically much under the insecurity. (…) Publicity and openness are very important in this case, Spain has to be more careful and for Gabriele it is very important that there are people who take action around this case.” (…) At the 22nd of August former employees of the 6 months ago closed Basque Daily Egunkaria staged meetings in Bilbao and Donostia to demand the release of their imprisoned colleagues. Numerous leading personalities from unions, media, language-institutes, local politics and lawyers took part in the protests. They carried pictures of Iñaki Uria, Xabier Alegria and Xabier Oleaga, who are still in jail waiting for their trial in the case ‘Egunkaria’. In Paris will start at the 8th of September the trial against Aberto Rey Domecq, arrested in January last year. Domecq is accused of ‘membership of a terrorist organisation’ and ‘violently attacking the police’. According to Spanish authorities Domecq was a former member of an ETA-cell that was responsible for various attacks in Madrid. The Basque High Court rejects an appeal of the Spanish procurer- general against the permission of a demonstration with the motto ‘No Apartheid. Selfdetermination.’ For the 22nd of August in Bilbao. The ministry of Internal Affairs of the Basque Country gave permission and from Madrid it was tried to overrule this with the reason that ‘there was a high risk of disturbing public order’ and that ‘the demonstration’s aim was not to give out a political message but stage terrorist activities’. Despite that the demonstration was called for by a former member of the outlawed party Batasuna, the High Court ruled that ‘he didn’t loose his political and civil rights with that’. In the end thousands of people demonstrated in Bilbao. The Spanish minister of Justice, Jose Maria Michavila is outrageous; “The friends of ETA and her accomplices are permitted to walk freely in the streets, only because the Basque government gave permission. The only oxygen ETA still gets, isolated from all democratic institutes in Spain and Europe, is from that institutions where the PNV is in power”. He called on the PNV “to stop being the official sponsor of ETA, Batasuna and the friends of terrorism”. In Naffaroa the High Court permits the banning of two demonstrations under the slogan ‘No Apartheid. Selfdetermination.’ planned in Iruñea (26th of August) and in Berriozar (23rd August) with the reason that there is a ‘risk of disturbance of public order’ and that ‘it is the same lyric as at earlier demonstrations’ and ‘that there would be links with Batasuna’. It is also feared that ‘it is possible that symbols of the Spanish State could be insulted and it could happen that support for terrorism is spoken out’.
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