NIEUWSOVERZICHT

OVERVIEW EVENTS IN THE BASQUE COUNTRY, NR 29, period the 23rd of August until the 24th of September 2003

In the month July 17 Basque political prisoners were moved; the notorious politics of the Spanish state in dispersing prisoners worked again. They try to break solidarity by putting prisoners as far away as possible from their friends and relatives, to move them as much as they can, to isolate the prisoners and to punish them and their families extra. Seventeen of the 671 Basque political prisoners were moved even further from their friends in and outside the prison, some of them are now more than 1000 kilometres away. Also the Basque lawyers travel themselves around the clock, especially when they have more clients.
In Berriozar, a small town near Iruñea, the manifestation at the 23rd of August was still outlawed, all incoming cars were checked by military police and every crowd bigger than 4 was forbidden. The numerous people who decided to gather anyway, despite the state of emergency (where all basic rights were lifted, as the police told) came together behind the slogan ‘Gora Ezker Abertzale’ (Long live the left-Nationalism) of one of the Batasuna-leaders Juan Kruz Aldasoro. Six days later Aldasoro is charged by the Guardia Civil because of that slogan (and 2 other slogans not made public by the police) and the applauding that followed; ‘inciting public disorder’.
The Spanish government gets opposition at the 25th of August over their decision to grant 27.000 Euro to the National Francisco Franco Foundation. The aim of the Foundation is “spreading the understanding at humane, political and military level” of the fascist dictator Franco. The last 4 years the Foundation received big amounts of money, this year even the biggest amount of all subsidies the Ministry gave out. The leader of the Izquierda Unida (Left Unity), Gaspar Llamazares branded the governing Partido Popular as “Ultra-conservative movement with a few marks of democratic credibility and a lot of marks of nostalgia and authority”. If the PP, as gathering place for the remains of the Franco-regime, headed by Prime Minister Aznar, a fanatic Franco-adept and resister of the transition to democracy, would be consequent, they should outlaw themselves as a party “glorifying terror”, “uses violence as a mean for political goals” and “has a culture of confrontation”, things they accuse Batasuna of.
At the 26th of August it is exactly one year ago that the Basque left-nationalist political party Batasuna is ‘closed’ for 3 years by a juridical decision of investigative judge Baltasar Garzón. Party leaders and sympathisers of Batasuna demonstrate for the closed offices at Iruñea, Gasteiz, Bilbo, Donostia and Baiona to challenge the regime of political Apartheid. The deputy Ainara Armendariz says in her speech that Batasuna has despite the banning still a strong backbone in the Basque society and that they will continue to work on a left, free and independent Basque Country.
The Mexican judge Ranulfo Castillo decides at the 28th of August that the extradition request of the Audiencia Nacional in Madrid for the Basque political prisoner Lorenzo Llona Olade, since the 26th of April in prison, is granted. Olade is accused of “possible cooperation in an attack in 1981 in Tolosa”, while her lawyers claim that she was in Mexico in that time. Directly after the verdict Olade went on hunger strike.
At the 29th of August, numerous people commemorate the Basque Juan Mari Ormazabal, who died 12 years ago in a gun battle with the Basque police Ertzaintza. They asked afterwards for the speech of the sister of Ormazabal and asked her to identify herself, what she did with a Basque identity card, which was refused by the police.
At the 30th of August the Spanish Prime Minister points out his successor, the 48-year-old Galician Mariano Rajoy. Rajoy, jurist and vice-Prime Minister, will probably be the next Prime Minister of Spain and also party leader of the PP. The founder of the PP, the still very influential ex-minister from the Franco dictatorship, Manual Fraga (still president of Galicia) took Rajoy in 1990 from Santiago de Compostella to Madrid, to guard the continuity of the PP-politics. Rajoy made, just as Aznar did 7 years ago, the “struggle against the terrorism” as focal point in his future politics.
At the 1st of September the local authorities decide to cancel two concerts of Manu Chao and Fermin Muguruza at Málaga and Murcia after protests of the “Asociación de Victimas del Terrorismo”, the association of victims of terrorism, about the opinion of the singer Muguruza about “the independence of the Basque Country and that he is the idol of members of a group like ETA”. The day before the two singers performed in front of 15.000 people in Madrid.
At the same day Paulo Elkoro, Basque political prisoner in München, goes in hunger strike to avoid his extradition to Spain. At the 10th of September Elkoro is taken to the prison hospital. His health becomes worse all the time and he cannot take water anymore. See here. for a letter in German from Paulo and here for a radio-interview in German with his brother, lawyer and support group. For an interview in German with Paulo from the 25th of September, click here
At the 3rd of September the Spanish Government orders the High Court to terminate the activities of the Basque regional parliament of the provinces Gipuzkoa, Bizkaia and Araba totally, because they refuse to obey the order to remove the fraction of the Sozialiasta Abertzaleak from that parliament. At the 20th of May the High Court ordered this and also that since that day all decisions in which the Sozialista Abertzaleak had participated in parliament must be declared illegal. Some days later the regional parliament answers that the Sozialista Abertzaleak have the right on every subsidy granted them in the law.
The 6 Basque political prisoners, Asier Arronategi, Jon Artxola, Axun Gorrotxategi, Ernesto Alberdi, Félix García and Joseba Ukrijo, who are in extradition imprisonment since July this year in Mexico, are being charged for the crimes they are accused of by Garzón, if they are not being extradited to Spain, according to the state lawyer José Luis Santiago Vasconceles. With this statement he wants to prevent that “Mexico will become a safe haven for Etarras (ETA-activists)”. The lawyers of the 6 say again that any evidence against their clients is missing. In an interview with the left Basque daily GARA the 6 say that their extradition trial is one big, useless show for the mass -media and for the honour and glory of Garzón and that every legal ground is missing for the trial. At the 5th and 7th of September in Bilbo Ziortza Fernández Larrazabal, Aritza Ferrero Ruiz, Aitor Herrera Vieites, Gorka Martinez Arkarazo, Ana López Barrio and Roberto Sáiz Olmo are arrested by the Basque police Ertzaintza. They are charged with cooperation or membership of ETA. According to a declaration of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Basque regional parliament one of them would be responsible for the coordination of different ETA-commando’s. Aritza Ferreo Ruiz is later released; the 6 others are being put in the Madrid prison Soto del Real, where they are being tortured during the incommunicado detention. Ana López Barrio is for example several times beaten up and threatened with rape.
At the 6th of September Jon Salaberria, member of the fraction of Sozialista Abertzaleak in the Basque parliament, gets convicted by the High Court to 1 year imprisonment and 7 years suspension as parliamentarian, for things he said in parliament in April 2002. Salaberria would have “glorified terrorism” and said among other things: “There is no solution because of the nature of the conflict is twisted, and you are very aware of the fact that the armed struggle of ETA is not designed to impose ideas. You know that perfectly. The armed struggle of ETA is there to defend the legitimate rights of the Basque Country”. Salaberria said that he pointed out ETA’s goals because it was not right that they were deliberately put wrong.
At the 7th of September 1000 people demonstrate in Donostia for the independence of the Basque Country.
At the 9th of September the Spanish Constitutional Court rejects a complain from the Basque government about the ‘Law on Parties’, that made it possible one year ago to outlaw the political party Batasuna. The Basque government says it will appeal at the European Court of Human Rights, because according to them the law “is not in terms with the objectives of the EU” and undermines their own legislation. The spokesman of the PP said it “was a move in support of those who justify violence”. Apparently the case will not be taken in by the European Court because the Basque government is not a state, individual or NGO.
In Elgoibar at the 11th of September a welcome party for the after 19 years imprisonment released Iñaki Jaio is forced to remove from the town square to the local youth squath because the Basque police threatens to shoot into the crowd. Jaio has been in the prisons Alcalá Meco, Herrera de la Mancha, Burgos, Teruel, Huesca and Zuera.
In The Hague, the Netherlands, friends of Juanra, the Catalan activist who is still in extradition imprisonment in Amsterdam, occupy the island in the pond opposite of the Dutch parliament at the 11th of September. Nearby a theaterplay is played about the demolition of civil and human rights in Spain.Click here for photos and statements in English.
At the 13th of September 500 deputies and representatives of the banned Basque voters platform AuB in Donostia against the situation of political Apartheid in the Basque Country. By forming a human chain they protest against their exclusion by the Basque governing party PNV, the Spanish governing party PP and the Spanish socialdemocrats from the PSOE from the city councils, where AuB has, according the results of the elections of the 25th of May 2003, right on numerous seats. In Lagran at the 14th of September there is a shoot-out in the evening between the Basque police Ertzaintza and suspected members of ETA. Two officers are wounded and 1 suspected ETA-militant is killed. Ten hours later the body is found and it appears to be Arkaitz Otazua. Asier Mardones, who was together with Otazua, is on the run.
In Madrid the public prosecutor Enrique Molina of the Audiencia Nacional decides that judge Garzón is prosecuting 21 members of the outlawed Basque youth organisation SEGI, who were arrested in March 2002, for “membership of an armed organisation”. The people accused are Xabier Abasolo, Gorka Betolaza, Ainhoa Casares, Ainara and Iker Frade, Xabier Gogenola, Unai González, Asier Iñigo, David Lizarralde, Arkaitz Martínez de Albéniz, Asier Otxoa de Retana, Aitziber Pérez, Oier Oa, Jon Markel Ormazabal, Eneko Aizpuru, Aitor Elizaran, Garikoitz Mugika, Zigor Ruiz, Haritza Galarraga, Ives Matxikote and Amaia Rekarte.
In München there is demonstrations at the 14th of September at the prison were Paulo Elkoro is on hunger strike. In the village where Paulo was born in the Basque Country, there is every evening a picket line at the city hall.
At the 16th of September judge Garzón has Juan Joxe Petrikorena, Iñigo Balda and Ainhoa Iñigo arrested for “cooperation with the armed organisation ETA”, “ignoring the ban on activities of Batasuna” and “insulting the Spanish state by burning the Spanish flag”. The evidence for that is according to Garzón the 3 organised a meeting with the motto “Apartheid Ez. Autodeterminazioa” (Against Apartheid, for self determination) at the 10th of August in Donostia. Mikel Aznar is accused in the same case and against him an international warrant is given out. The Guardia Civil also searched and closed 3 Herriko Tabernas (People’s Pubs), because according to Garzén, the demonstration was prepared there. The Basque government outlawed the demonstration but the court lifted the ban because of the right of freedom of speech.
Numerous people of the action group ‘Solidarios con Itoiz’, the protestmovement against the lake of the weir at Itoiz in Naffaroa, occupy the village Artozki, where all houses are going to be demolished. The machines are not getting into the small village. Guardia Civil and local police surround the village.
At the 17th of September the Basque political prisoner Lorenzo Llona Olade is released from extradition prison in Mexico because the Mexican government rejects the extradition request from Spain.
In Bilbo a commemoration for the shot Arkaitz Otazua is attacked by the Basque police Ertzaintza with batons and rubber bullets at the 18th of September.
At the 18th of September 25 friends of Juanra block the entrance of the Dutch parliament and government for 2 hours with concrete barrels, steel lock-ons and banners, in protest of the coming extradition of Juanra. Nearby was a conference about ‘terrorism’, where Garzón would be present, but in the end he was too busy giving out an arrest warrant for Osama Bin Laden. For pics and statements in English, please take a look here.
The Basque political prisoner Bautista Barandella, who is seriously ill, is not being released by the Spanish National High Court (what, according to article 92, should have happened) because Barandella didn’t regret what he did and didn’t distance himself from ETA’s politics. Barandella is transferred from the Zuera- prison in Zaragoza to the prison in Iruñea.
At the 19th of September the Canadian government approves with the extradition of the 2 Basque political prisoners Gorka Perea and Eduardo Plagaro. Since their arrest on the 6th of June 2001 the 2 have been in extradition detention. Perea and Plagaro are convicted in Spain for 6 and 7 years in prison on accusations of arson and fled after paying bail in 1997 to Canada, where they asked for political asylum because their statements on which they were convicted were taken under torture. The asylum procedure was stopped when there came a Spanish extradition warrant.
Around 2.000 persons demonstrate at the weekly manifestations throughout the Basque Country against the Spanish state’s politics of dispersion of Basque political prisoners. Also for the entrance of the International film festival in Donostia was a demonstration.
Thousands of Basques demonstrate behind the slogan ‘No Apartheid. Autodeterminazioa’ at the 20th of September in Bilbo. The Basque police was present with numerous units, but the demonstrators didn’t allow them to provocate.
At the 23rd of September the first hearing in the extradition case against Alexander Akarregi Casas takes place at the Court of Haarlem, the Netherlands. The Dutch Marechausee arrested Alexander Akarregi Casas, a young Basque political refugee, at the 8th of July at Schiphol Airport travelling to Nicaragua. At the 10th of July the Spanish authorities rendered an arrest warrant against Akarregi and 2 other Basque youngsters; Akarregi is being accused of renting the car in which at the 23rd of September 2002, exactly one year ago, in Bilbao the two Basques Odai Gallagara and Egoiz Gurruchaga, according to the Spanish extradition request members of ETA, died when the explosives they moved in their car exploded too early. According to the judge Alexander would have borrowed the car to them, “knowing with what purpose the car was going to be used and thus cooperated with a armed gang”. Akarregi said to the judge that he had nothing to do with this all: “I didn’t rent the car, didn’t know these people, don’t understand the acquisitions and am innocent”. The judge said that to all the demands of double punishment, which you need in a extradition case, has been met; the ‘facts’ presented by Spain are also punishable in the Netherlands. But the public prosecutor wanted more in her motivation for the court; Akarregi is accused of “accomplishment to an explosion with the death as a result” and “participation in a criminal organisation”. Further the public prosecutor stated that the crime was not overdue, that there exists an extradition treatment between Spain and The Netherlands, that the punishable element of the ‘facts’ are over the minimum of one year (requested in an extradition case) and that Spain signed the European Treaty of Human Rights (EVRM) and also underlines the rules of the Commission of the Prevention of Torture (CPT) of the United Nations. And according to the public prosecutor the risk of torture is not existent in the case of Akarregi because of his denials of the acquisitions, meaning this is not a political case. The lawyer of Akarregi, Mr. Koppe, disagrees in his motivation that the two boys who died in the explosion of the car are ETA-members; this is what the Spanish authorities say, but it is nowhere proven. “The combination of being Basque and explosives apparently is enough to be counted in with an armed gang”. He also questions the double punishment; the Spanish authorities accuse Akarregi of “collaboration with a criminal organisation” while the public prosecutor accuses Akarregi of “participation in a criminal organisation”, and in Spain there exists a different law for the latter, with a much higher punishment. It is at least strange that Spain doesn’t use this article against Akarregi, but do against the two other suspects, whose house keys were found in the wreck of the car and where the police apparently found explosives. It seems strongly that there is actually hardly a case against Akarregi and the renting of a car is not a crime in The Netherlands. So what the court in Haarlem has to do is investigate the accusations of Spain and ask for evidence how they knew that Akarregi knew for what purpose the car was going to be used. If the court of Haarlem however decides to extradite Akarregi to Spain, Koppe asks for guarantees that Akarregi will not be put in the notorious ‘incommunicado’ detention, to avoid the risk of torture. The Amsterdam court decided in the case of the Catalan activist Juanra, despite that the Spanish authorities mentioned these guarantees in the extradition request that guarantees should be asked to Spain. And the High Court took over this advice, but the minister of Justice Donner turned that down and showed that also in The Netherlands economic and diplomatic relations stand above the human rights. Koppe gave the court of Haarlem reports of the UN, the European Council, Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International and replied to the public prosecutor that Akarregi’s case is surely a political, being accused of collaboration with ETA, whose alleged members are frequently subdued to torture by the Spanish and Basque authorities. Sympathisers and friends of Alexander Akarregi were present at the court as support for him and continue to campaign for the release of Akarregi. The Haarlem court will rule his verdict at the 7th of October.
In the Basque Country the new movie ‘La Pelota Vasca’ of Julio Medem causes rumour; it would, especially according to members of the PP, “insult the victims of terrorism” and sympathise with the ideas of ETA. In reality the movie shows a wide variety of political ideas and it shows topics like the Carlist wars, the ‘Fueros’ (the ancient Basque laws), the area of Franco, the transition to democracy and the current situation with an open mind and aimed at dialogue. The movie received a standing ovation at the international film festival in Donostia.
At the 24th of September the court case of Juanra against the decision of the Dutch Minister of Justice Donner takes place. Here the translation of the report of the Dutch Prees Agency ANP: Juanra Rodriguez, who is being accused of being a member of the Basque separatist movement ETA, hears at the 7th of October if and on which conditions the Netherlands may extradite him to Spain. Juanra’s lawyer, Victor Koppe, demands a ban on extraditing his client. If the judge doesn’t approve with that, Koppe demands that the Netherlands will get guarantees from the Spanish Justice department that Juanra will not be put in isolation detention. Juanra fears to be victim of torture, if he will be put in isolation detention. Koppe came up with a variety of reports of specialists and organisations as the United Nations, Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International to prove that human rights of ETA-suspects are being violated the last years in isolation detention in Spain. He pointed out that France refused to extradite an ETA-suspect because of the torturing of another ETA-suspect in Spain. Juanra faces a high risk, because Spanish authorities see him as the leader of the Spanish antiglobalist movement. Minister Donner of Justice didn’t find it necessary to ask for guarantees. The state lawyer Heemskerk pointed out that in the Spanish arrest warrant it is said that the detention of Juanra will be with full contact with the outside world. He pointed also that there were the last years some incidents in human rights violations in Spain, but that many accusations of those who were tortured were not proven. Heemskerk also said that ETA instructs their members to seek for publicity after their arrest and file complaints about torture against the police. He recognised however that there is widespread international criticism on the practise of isolation detention in Spain.
The Spanish TV-station Tele5 accused the Basque independent activists Arnaldo Otegi, Joseba Permach, Jon Enparantza, Ainhoa Etxaide, Joxe Mari Olarra, Rafa Diez, Jagoba Zulueta and Joxean Etxeberria just before the debate about the ‘plan Ibarretxe’ (for a more autonomous Basque Country, but strong ties with Spain) in the Basque parliament of having had “talks with ETA”. Tele5 bases its accusations on the statements of Xabier Alegria, which were given under torture. Alegria, still in prison, was arrested in a police operation against the Basque newspaper Egunkaria. Otegi warned for more operations.

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OVERVIEW EVENTS IN THE BASQUE COUNTRY, NR 29, period the 23rd of August until the 24th of September 2003
In the month July 17 Basque political prisoners were moved; the notorious politics of the Spanish state in dispersing prisoners worked again. They try to break solidarity by putting prisoners as far away as possible from their friends and relatives, to move them as much as they can, to isolate the prisoners and to punish them and their families extra. Seventeen of the 671 Basque political prisoners were moved even further from their friends in and outside the prison, some of them are now more than 1000 kilometres away. Also the Basque lawyers travel themselves around the clock, especially when they have more clients. In Berriozar, a small town near Iruñea, the manifestation at the 23rd of August was still outlawed, all incoming cars were checked by military police and every crowd bigger than 4 was forbidden. The numerous people who decided to gather anyway, despite the state of emergency (where all basic rights were lifted, as the police told) came together behind the slogan ‘Gora Ezker Abertzale’ (Long live the left-Nationalism) of one of the Batasuna-leaders Juan Kruz Aldasoro. Six days later Aldasoro is charged by the Guardia Civil because of that slogan (and 2 other slogans not made public by the police) and the applauding that followed; ‘inciting public disorder’. The Spanish government gets opposition at the 25th of August over their decision to grant 27.000 Euro to the National Francisco Franco Foundation. The aim of the Foundation is “spreading the understanding at humane, political and military level” of the fascist dictator Franco. The last 4 years the Foundation received big amounts of money, this year even the biggest amount of all subsidies the Ministry gave out. The leader of the Izquierda Unida (Left Unity), Gaspar Llamazares branded the governing Partido Popular as “Ultra-conservative movement with a few marks of democratic credibility and a lot of marks of nostalgia and authority”. If the PP, as gathering place for the remains of the Franco-regime, headed by Prime Minister Aznar, a fanatic Franco-adept and resister of the transition to democracy, would be consequent, they should outlaw themselves as a party “glorifying terror”, “uses violence as a mean for political goals” and “has a culture of confrontation”, things they accuse Batasuna of. At the 26th of August it is exactly one year ago that the Basque left-nationalist political party Batasuna is ‘closed’ for 3 years by a juridical decision of investigative judge Baltasar Garzón. Party leaders and sympathisers of Batasuna demonstrate for the closed offices at Iruñea, Gasteiz, Bilbo, Donostia and Baiona to challenge the regime of political Apartheid. The deputy Ainara Armendariz says in her speech that Batasuna has despite the banning still a strong backbone in the Basque society and that they will continue to work on a left, free and independent Basque Country. The Mexican judge Ranulfo Castillo decides at the 28th of August that the extradition request of the Audiencia Nacional in Madrid for the Basque political prisoner Lorenzo Llona Olade, since the 26th of April in prison, is granted. Olade is accused of “possible cooperation in an attack in 1981 in Tolosa”, while her lawyers claim that she was in Mexico in that time. Directly after the verdict Olade went on hunger strike. At the 29th of August, numerous people commemorate the Basque Juan Mari Ormazabal, who died 12 years ago in a gun battle with the Basque police Ertzaintza. They asked afterwards for the speech of the sister of Ormazabal and asked her to identify herself, what she did with a Basque identity card, which was refused by the police. At the 30th of August the Spanish Prime Minister points out his successor, the 48-year-old Galician Mariano Rajoy. Rajoy, jurist and vice-Prime Minister, will probably be the next Prime Minister of Spain and also party leader of the PP. The founder of the PP, the still very influential ex-minister from the Franco dictatorship, Manual Fraga (still president of Galicia) took Rajoy in 1990 from Santiago de Compostella to Madrid, to guard the continuity of the PP-politics. Rajoy made, just as Aznar did 7 years ago, the “struggle against the terrorism” as focal point in his future politics. At the 1st of September the local authorities decide to cancel two concerts of Manu Chao and Fermin Muguruza at Málaga and Murcia after protests of the “Asociación de Victimas del Terrorismo”, the association of victims of terrorism, about the opinion of the singer Muguruza about “the independence of the Basque Country and that he is the idol of members of a group like ETA”. The day before the two singers performed in front of 15.000 people in Madrid. At the same day Paulo Elkoro, Basque political prisoner in München, goes in hunger strike to avoid his extradition to Spain. At the 10th of September Elkoro is taken to the prison hospital. His health becomes worse all the time and he cannot take water anymore. See here. for a letter in German from Paulo and here for a radio-interview in German with his brother, lawyer and support group. For an interview in German with Paulo from the 25th of September, click here At the 3rd of September the Spanish Government orders the High Court to terminate the activities of the Basque regional parliament of the provinces Gipuzkoa, Bizkaia and Araba totally, because they refuse to obey the order to remove the fraction of the Sozialiasta Abertzaleak from that parliament. At the 20th of May the High Court ordered this and also that since that day all decisions in which the Sozialista Abertzaleak had participated in parliament must be declared illegal. Some days later the regional parliament answers that the Sozialista Abertzaleak have the right on every subsidy granted them in the law. The 6 Basque political prisoners, Asier Arronategi, Jon Artxola, Axun Gorrotxategi, Ernesto Alberdi, Félix García and Joseba Ukrijo, who are in extradition imprisonment since July this year in Mexico, are being charged for the crimes they are accused of by Garzón, if they are not being extradited to Spain, according to the state lawyer José Luis Santiago Vasconceles. With this statement he wants to prevent that “Mexico will become a safe haven for Etarras (ETA-activists)”. The lawyers of the 6 say again that any evidence against their clients is missing. In an interview with the left Basque daily GARA the 6 say that their extradition trial is one big, useless show for the mass -media and for the honour and glory of Garzón and that every legal ground is missing for the trial. At the 5th and 7th of September in Bilbo Ziortza Fernández Larrazabal, Aritza Ferrero Ruiz, Aitor Herrera Vieites, Gorka Martinez Arkarazo, Ana López Barrio and Roberto Sáiz Olmo are arrested by the Basque police Ertzaintza. They are charged with cooperation or membership of ETA. According to a declaration of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Basque regional parliament one of them would be responsible for the coordination of different ETA-commando’s. Aritza Ferreo Ruiz is later released; the 6 others are being put in the Madrid prison Soto del Real, where they are being tortured during the incommunicado detention. Ana López Barrio is for example several times beaten up and threatened with rape. At the 6th of September Jon Salaberria, member of the fraction of Sozialista Abertzaleak in the Basque parliament, gets convicted by the High Court to 1 year imprisonment and 7 years suspension as parliamentarian, for things he said in parliament in April 2002. Salaberria would have “glorified terrorism” and said among other things: “There is no solution because of the nature of the conflict is twisted, and you are very aware of the fact that the armed struggle of ETA is not designed to impose ideas. You know that perfectly. The armed struggle of ETA is there to defend the legitimate rights of the Basque Country”. Salaberria said that he pointed out ETA’s goals because it was not right that they were deliberately put wrong. At the 7th of September 1000 people demonstrate in Donostia for the independence of the Basque Country. At the 9th of September the Spanish Constitutional Court rejects a complain from the Basque government about the ‘Law on Parties’, that made it possible one year ago to outlaw the political party Batasuna. The Basque government says it will appeal at the European Court of Human Rights, because according to them the law “is not in terms with the objectives of the EU” and undermines their own legislation. The spokesman of the PP said it “was a move in support of those who justify violence”. Apparently the case will not be taken in by the European Court because the Basque government is not a state, individual or NGO. In Elgoibar at the 11th of September a welcome party for the after 19 years imprisonment released Iñaki Jaio is forced to remove from the town square to the local youth squath because the Basque police threatens to shoot into the crowd. Jaio has been in the prisons Alcalá Meco, Herrera de la Mancha, Burgos, Teruel, Huesca and Zuera. In The Hague, the Netherlands, friends of Juanra, the Catalan activist who is still in extradition imprisonment in Amsterdam, occupy the island in the pond opposite of the Dutch parliament at the 11th of September. Nearby a theaterplay is played about the demolition of civil and human rights in Spain.Click here for photos and statements in English. At the 13th of September 500 deputies and representatives of the banned Basque voters platform AuB in Donostia against the situation of political Apartheid in the Basque Country. By forming a human chain they protest against their exclusion by the Basque governing party PNV, the Spanish governing party PP and the Spanish socialdemocrats from the PSOE from the city councils, where AuB has, according the results of the elections of the 25th of May 2003, right on numerous seats. In Lagran at the 14th of September there is a shoot-out in the evening between the Basque police Ertzaintza and suspected members of ETA. Two officers are wounded and 1 suspected ETA-militant is killed. Ten hours later the body is found and it appears to be Arkaitz Otazua. Asier Mardones, who was together with Otazua, is on the run. In Madrid the public prosecutor Enrique Molina of the Audiencia Nacional decides that judge Garzón is prosecuting 21 members of the outlawed Basque youth organisation SEGI, who were arrested in March 2002, for “membership of an armed organisation”. The people accused are Xabier Abasolo, Gorka Betolaza, Ainhoa Casares, Ainara and Iker Frade, Xabier Gogenola, Unai González, Asier Iñigo, David Lizarralde, Arkaitz Martínez de Albéniz, Asier Otxoa de Retana, Aitziber Pérez, Oier Oa, Jon Markel Ormazabal, Eneko Aizpuru, Aitor Elizaran, Garikoitz Mugika, Zigor Ruiz, Haritza Galarraga, Ives Matxikote and Amaia Rekarte. In München there is demonstrations at the 14th of September at the prison were Paulo Elkoro is on hunger strike. In the village where Paulo was born in the Basque Country, there is every evening a picket line at the city hall. At the 16th of September judge Garzón has Juan Joxe Petrikorena, Iñigo Balda and Ainhoa Iñigo arrested for “cooperation with the armed organisation ETA”, “ignoring the ban on activities of Batasuna” and “insulting the Spanish state by burning the Spanish flag”. The evidence for that is according to Garzón the 3 organised a meeting with the motto “Apartheid Ez. Autodeterminazioa” (Against Apartheid, for self determination) at the 10th of August in Donostia. Mikel Aznar is accused in the same case and against him an international warrant is given out. The Guardia Civil also searched and closed 3 Herriko Tabernas (People’s Pubs), because according to Garzén, the demonstration was prepared there. The Basque government outlawed the demonstration but the court lifted the ban because of the right of freedom of speech. Numerous people of the action group ‘Solidarios con Itoiz’, the protestmovement against the lake of the weir at Itoiz in Naffaroa, occupy the village Artozki, where all houses are going to be demolished. The machines are not getting into the small village. Guardia Civil and local police surround the village. At the 17th of September the Basque political prisoner Lorenzo Llona Olade is released from extradition prison in Mexico because the Mexican government rejects the extradition request from Spain. In Bilbo a commemoration for the shot Arkaitz Otazua is attacked by the Basque police Ertzaintza with batons and rubber bullets at the 18th of September. At the 18th of September 25 friends of Juanra block the entrance of the Dutch parliament and government for 2 hours with concrete barrels, steel lock-ons and banners, in protest of the coming extradition of Juanra. Nearby was a conference about ‘terrorism’, where Garzón would be present, but in the end he was too busy giving out an arrest warrant for Osama Bin Laden. For pics and statements in English, please take a look here. The Basque political prisoner Bautista Barandella, who is seriously ill, is not being released by the Spanish National High Court (what, according to article 92, should have happened) because Barandella didn’t regret what he did and didn’t distance himself from ETA’s politics. Barandella is transferred from the Zuera- prison in Zaragoza to the prison in Iruñea. At the 19th of September the Canadian government approves with the extradition of the 2 Basque political prisoners Gorka Perea and Eduardo Plagaro. Since their arrest on the 6th of June 2001 the 2 have been in extradition detention. Perea and Plagaro are convicted in Spain for 6 and 7 years in prison on accusations of arson and fled after paying bail in 1997 to Canada, where they asked for political asylum because their statements on which they were convicted were taken under torture. The asylum procedure was stopped when there came a Spanish extradition warrant. Around 2.000 persons demonstrate at the weekly manifestations throughout the Basque Country against the Spanish state’s politics of dispersion of Basque political prisoners. Also for the entrance of the International film festival in Donostia was a demonstration. Thousands of Basques demonstrate behind the slogan ‘No Apartheid. Autodeterminazioa’ at the 20th of September in Bilbo. The Basque police was present with numerous units, but the demonstrators didn’t allow them to provocate. At the 23rd of September the first hearing in the extradition case against Alexander Akarregi Casas takes place at the Court of Haarlem, the Netherlands. The Dutch Marechausee arrested Alexander Akarregi Casas, a young Basque political refugee, at the 8th of July at Schiphol Airport travelling to Nicaragua. At the 10th of July the Spanish authorities rendered an arrest warrant against Akarregi and 2 other Basque youngsters; Akarregi is being accused of renting the car in which at the 23rd of September 2002, exactly one year ago, in Bilbao the two Basques Odai Gallagara and Egoiz Gurruchaga, according to the Spanish extradition request members of ETA, died when the explosives they moved in their car exploded too early. According to the judge Alexander would have borrowed the car to them, “knowing with what purpose the car was going to be used and thus cooperated with a armed gang”. Akarregi said to the judge that he had nothing to do with this all: “I didn’t rent the car, didn’t know these people, don’t understand the acquisitions and am innocent”. The judge said that to all the demands of double punishment, which you need in a extradition case, has been met; the ‘facts’ presented by Spain are also punishable in the Netherlands. But the public prosecutor wanted more in her motivation for the court; Akarregi is accused of “accomplishment to an explosion with the death as a result” and “participation in a criminal organisation”. Further the public prosecutor stated that the crime was not overdue, that there exists an extradition treatment between Spain and The Netherlands, that the punishable element of the ‘facts’ are over the minimum of one year (requested in an extradition case) and that Spain signed the European Treaty of Human Rights (EVRM) and also underlines the rules of the Commission of the Prevention of Torture (CPT) of the United Nations. And according to the public prosecutor the risk of torture is not existent in the case of Akarregi because of his denials of the acquisitions, meaning this is not a political case. The lawyer of Akarregi, Mr. Koppe, disagrees in his motivation that the two boys who died in the explosion of the car are ETA-members; this is what the Spanish authorities say, but it is nowhere proven. “The combination of being Basque and explosives apparently is enough to be counted in with an armed gang”. He also questions the double punishment; the Spanish authorities accuse Akarregi of “collaboration with a criminal organisation” while the public prosecutor accuses Akarregi of “participation in a criminal organisation”, and in Spain there exists a different law for the latter, with a much higher punishment. It is at least strange that Spain doesn’t use this article against Akarregi, but do against the two other suspects, whose house keys were found in the wreck of the car and where the police apparently found explosives. It seems strongly that there is actually hardly a case against Akarregi and the renting of a car is not a crime in The Netherlands. So what the court in Haarlem has to do is investigate the accusations of Spain and ask for evidence how they knew that Akarregi knew for what purpose the car was going to be used. If the court of Haarlem however decides to extradite Akarregi to Spain, Koppe asks for guarantees that Akarregi will not be put in the notorious ‘incommunicado’ detention, to avoid the risk of torture. The Amsterdam court decided in the case of the Catalan activist Juanra, despite that the Spanish authorities mentioned these guarantees in the extradition request that guarantees should be asked to Spain. And the High Court took over this advice, but the minister of Justice Donner turned that down and showed that also in The Netherlands economic and diplomatic relations stand above the human rights. Koppe gave the court of Haarlem reports of the UN, the European Council, Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International and replied to the public prosecutor that Akarregi’s case is surely a political, being accused of collaboration with ETA, whose alleged members are frequently subdued to torture by the Spanish and Basque authorities. Sympathisers and friends of Alexander Akarregi were present at the court as support for him and continue to campaign for the release of Akarregi. The Haarlem court will rule his verdict at the 7th of October. In the Basque Country the new movie ‘La Pelota Vasca’ of Julio Medem causes rumour; it would, especially according to members of the PP, “insult the victims of terrorism” and sympathise with the ideas of ETA. In reality the movie shows a wide variety of political ideas and it shows topics like the Carlist wars, the ‘Fueros’ (the ancient Basque laws), the area of Franco, the transition to democracy and the current situation with an open mind and aimed at dialogue. The movie received a standing ovation at the international film festival in Donostia. At the 24th of September the court case of Juanra against the decision of the Dutch Minister of Justice Donner takes place. Here the translation of the report of the Dutch Prees Agency ANP: Juanra Rodriguez, who is being accused of being a member of the Basque separatist movement ETA, hears at the 7th of October if and on which conditions the Netherlands may extradite him to Spain. Juanra’s lawyer, Victor Koppe, demands a ban on extraditing his client. If the judge doesn’t approve with that, Koppe demands that the Netherlands will get guarantees from the Spanish Justice department that Juanra will not be put in isolation detention. Juanra fears to be victim of torture, if he will be put in isolation detention. Koppe came up with a variety of reports of specialists and organisations as the United Nations, Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International to prove that human rights of ETA-suspects are being violated the last years in isolation detention in Spain. He pointed out that France refused to extradite an ETA-suspect because of the torturing of another ETA-suspect in Spain. Juanra faces a high risk, because Spanish authorities see him as the leader of the Spanish antiglobalist movement. Minister Donner of Justice didn’t find it necessary to ask for guarantees. The state lawyer Heemskerk pointed out that in the Spanish arrest warrant it is said that the detention of Juanra will be with full contact with the outside world. He pointed also that there were the last years some incidents in human rights violations in Spain, but that many accusations of those who were tortured were not proven. Heemskerk also said that ETA instructs their members to seek for publicity after their arrest and file complaints about torture against the police. He recognised however that there is widespread international criticism on the practise of isolation detention in Spain. The Spanish TV-station Tele5 accused the Basque independent activists Arnaldo Otegi, Joseba Permach, Jon Enparantza, Ainhoa Etxaide, Joxe Mari Olarra, Rafa Diez, Jagoba Zulueta and Joxean Etxeberria just before the debate about the ‘plan Ibarretxe’ (for a more autonomous Basque Country, but strong ties with Spain) in the Basque parliament of having had “talks with ETA”. Tele5 bases its accusations on the statements of Xabier Alegria, which were given under torture. Alegria, still in prison, was arrested in a police operation against the Basque newspaper Egunkaria. Otegi warned for more operations.
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