Friendship Group welcomes warmly Abertzale Left’s document

the Friendship Group « Towards a peace process in the Basque Country » welcomes very warmly what we consider to be a step of great importance in order to achieve a peaceful scenario in the Basque Country.

Last Saturday, 14th of November, the Abertzale Left1 presented what they called “A first step for the Democratic Process: principles and will of the Abertzale Left”. In this document the Abertzale Left commits itself to a “democratic process” that “must be developed in a complete absence of violence and without interference, by the use of exclusively political and democratic means”. It also considers that “this process has to be conducted in accordance with the Mitchell principles2”.

We believe this decision facilitates a positive scenario that could end in a peace process, and we ask all parties involved in the conflict to react responsibly and to engage in a process that will lead to peace talks.

We as a friendship group that is working “towards a peace process in the Basque Country” would like to express our willingness to continue working in favour of the resolution of the Basque conflict.

We share the idea that the only solution that is valid for everyone is one that will be drawn up by a multilateral agreement and that is based on dialogue, peaceful and democratic means and entitles the Basques to decide upon their future freely.

Tomorrow heads of state of the EU are meeting in Brussels. We would like to ask the European Union and all its member states, as stated by the resolution adopted by the EU parliament in October 2006, to support and promote a peace process in the Basque Country. We hope that the upcoming Spanish presidency of the EU will be used in order to find a peaceful solution to this long-standing conflict. We urge the release of Arnaldo Otegi and all those arrested for their political activities, including former MEP Karmelo Landa whose release has been demanded by the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, in order to assure their involvement in a peace process.

Bairbre de Brún MEP and Tatjana Ždanoka MEP, on behalf of the Friendship Group: Towards a Peace Process in the Basque Country.

Spanish police arrest 34 Basque pro-Independence youth activists.

In the early hours of yesterday, Tuesday, 34 Basque pro-Independence political activists were arrested and 92 properties were searched in an operation involving 650 Spanish policemen. The police tried to arrest another seven youths but they weren’t in their homes.

Last week the anti-repression organization Askatasuna warned that they believed a police operation was imminent in the Basque Country. Then, in the early hours of Tuesday 24, 34 well known social, political and cultural young activists were arrested in what was the largest police operation in decades. They are being held incommunicado despite the recent recomendations of the United Nations Committee Against Torture.

All of them have been accused of being members of the national and county-level leadership of the pro-independence left-wing youth organization Segi which was banned in 2005.

Just ten days ago the Basque pro-Independence Left held a press conference where 110 prominent members launched new proposals to resolve the conflict. In a historical move they commited to a “peaceful and democratic political process” (full declaration in English: http://www.ezkerabertzalea.info/irakurri.php?id=2600). The declaration was welcomed by Basque nationalist and progressive forces and criminalized by the pro-Spanish parties and media.

On October 13 six prominent pro-Independence Left leaders, among them spokesperson Arnaldo Otegi, were arrested and imprisoned.

Most political parties and trade unions in the Basque Country have seen these arrests as a response to the new political initiative. The pro-Independence Left has said these attacks only confirm the Spanish state’s weakness and its fear of politics. According to the pro-Independence Left it’s in the political arena where the state is weakest and that’s where the confrontation has to be moved to. At the same time the Spanish state, with these arrests and others which might follow, intends on the one hand to prevent any change of estrategy by the pro-Independence Left and, on the other, to weaken the engine of change.

After months of debates and events at local level a national day had been called for this coming Saturday in Zestoa to reorganise and strengthen the broad Basque youth movement. The arrests come to prevent this from happening. Other youth organizations have called for a response to the attack by taking part in that very important day.

Dozens of protests took place in towns, schools and universities across the country and more protests are expected to be organised in days to come.

http://irishbasquecommittees.blogspot.com/2009/11/spanish-police-arrest-34-basque-pro.html

 

Torture in Spain

Spain must end the practice of incommunicado detention as it violates the rights of people deprived of their liberty, said Amnesty International in a report published on Tuesday.

“It is inadmissible that in present day Spain anyone who is arrested for whatever reason should disappear as if in a black hole for days on end. Such lack of transparency can be used as a veil to hide human rights violations,” said Nicola Duckworth, Europe and Central Asia Programme Director.

In its report, Out of the shadows: End incommunicado detention in Spain, Amnesty International illustrates how Spain has one of the strictest detention regimes in Europe which is in breach of the country’s obligations under international human rights law.

Spain’s law of criminal procedure allows for a detainee to be held incommunicado for up to five days in all cases and for up to 13 days if suspected of terrorism-related offences. The 13-day period consists of up to five days of incommunicado detention in police custody, which can be extended by a further five days incommunicado in preventive imprisonment. An additional three days of incommunicado detention may be imposed by a judge at any time during the investigation.

“While held incommunicado, detainees cannot talk to a lawyer or a doctor of their choice. Their families live in stress not knowing what has happened to them and many detainees held incommunicado report that they have been tortured or ill-treated, but such allegations are rarely investigated,” Nicola Duckworth said.

“Incommunicado detention denies detainees the right to fair trial. Such detention in itself may constitute cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment. It does not comply with international human rights standards.”

International organizations have repeatedly expressed concern about the risk of torture and other ill-treament during incommunicado detention. Such is the case of Mohamed Mrabet Fahsi who was arrested on terrorism-related charges on 10 January 2006 in his home near the city of Barcelona. During his detention incommunicado he was not able to call his own lawyer. Mohammed Fahsi told Amnesty International that he was tortured and ill-treated but both the doctor who examined him and the investigative judge ignored his complaints.

The Spanish government has justified the use of incommunicado detention on grounds of national security and public safety.

“Incommunicado detention must be relegated to the past. No other European Union country maintains a detention regime with such severe restrictions on the rights of detainees,” Nicola Duckworth said.

Amnesty International has called on the Spanish authorities to:

• Scrap legislation allowing incommunicado detention;
• Allow all detainees to speak in confidence with a lawyer without police officers present;
• Allow all detainees to have a lawyer of their choice who will be present during questioning;
• Allow all detainees to be examined by a doctor of their choice;
• Allow all detainees to have their families notified of their detention and location;
• Make compulsory in all cases the video and audio recording at places where detainees may be present, except where this may violate their right to private consultations with their lawyer or doctor;
• Investigate promptly, thoroughly and impartially all allegations of torture and other ill-treatment made by detainees.

Amnesty International.

*30.000 basques arrested  since 1975, more than 5.000 torture reports.

 

Judge rules against extradition.

Judge Tom Burgess ruled this afternoon that the Spanish authorities’ extradition warrant against Belfast-based Basque activist Artruro Benat Villanueva was “invalid”. The judge rejected the warrant, which claimed that Mr Villanueva was a “member of an illegal terrorist organisation” (Jarrai) from 1994-2000, on the grounds that it did not include any particularities, or details of specific offences committed.

“While Jarrai is a solely political organisation, it was declared illegal by the Spanish authorities in 2005 and categorised as a “terrorist” organisation by Spain’s Supreme Court in 2007.

Read more: http://www.dontextraditethebasques.org/news/judge-rules-against-extradition/

 

Basque prisoners to the Basque Country

730 Basque political prisoners scattered in jails in France and Spain, with the highest number of prisoners, approximately 422, in the Spanish State.

The most immediate demands of the Basque prisioners are for an end to the dispersion policy and bringing all them close to home, for the release of those who have served three quarters of their sentences, as the law actually establishes and also of those prisoners who are terminally ill.

Basque Pro-Amnesty movement and the organizations support:

· The right to respectful and dignified treatment.
· End torture and ill treatment.
· End isolation and beatings.
· Respect for the national and cultural identity of imprisoned people.
· The right to health.
· Proper healthcare–Allow doctors chosen by the prisoners to visit them.
· Immediate release of those who suffer serious illnesses.
· End surveillance and restrictions in communication.
· Freedom to communicate in the Basque language.
· Allow Basque prisoners to freely carry out their daily lives in Basque and fully develop their language skills.
· End the obstacles to study – Allow the possibility to carry out studies in Basque.
· Women in prison have the right to be mothers in conditions that do not diminish their dignity.
· Eliminate restrictions on communication with the child’s father.
· Guarantee living conditions for children in jail. Apply parole to prisoners who have served 3/4 or 2/3 of their sentence (depending on the Penal Code under which they were tried).
· Apply the corresponding legal sentence reductions without discrimination.
· Immediate release for prisoners who suffer serious incurable diseases.
· Acknowledge the representatives elected by the Collective. Allow the Collective to freely maintain relations with other political and social actors.
· Allow the Collective to freely participate in whichever instruments for debate and discussion Basque society creates.

Repatriate the Basque Prisoners!

http://blogs.amnesty.org.uk/blogs_entry.asp?eid=2196

A first step for the democratic procress

The current legal and political framework, which divides our territory and limits the rights of its citizens, has been proven to perpetuate political and armed conflict. It does not allow Basque citizens to decide their own future without constraints. In this context, the situation of violence and armed confrontation has lasted much longer than anybody would have wished, with the associated human and political costs that everybody knows. Our priority is to overcome this scenario.

The last three decades of conflict have led us to another conclusion: We are a political movement which has been proven correct by the course of time. This is demonstrated by events such as the initial demand of a democratic break with Franco’s regime, the rejection by the Basque People of the Spanish Constitution, NATO and the nuclear power station of Lemoiz. It is demonstrated by our efforts to avoid the consolidation of the trap implicit in statute of autonomy. It is also demonstrated by our opposition to rogue capitalism

Read more:  http://www.ezkerabertzalea.info/doku/principlesandwill.pdf

Don’t Extradite the Basques Campaign (Ireland)

We support the fundamental human, civil and political rights of the Basque people as laid out in the UN Declaration of Human Rights.

We support the right of Iñaki de Juana and Arturo ‘Beñat’ Villanueva not to be persecuted by the Spanish government for their political ideas.

We call on the British government to immediately reject the extradition attempts and not to collaborate with the Spanish government’s political persecution of Iñaki de Juana and Arturo ‘Beñat’ Villanueva.

We support the right of Iñaki de Juana and Arturo ‘Beñat’ Villanueva to live freely in Ireland.

More information:  http://www.dontextraditethebasques.org/

Repression fails to silence Basque independence movement

The aim of these arrests is to stop political initiatives that the Basque pro-independence movement was due to activate, political initiatives to resolve the ongoing conflict and to create a democratic scenario for the Basque Country.

Read more:  http://www.anphoblacht.com/news/detail/39046

Brian Currin: Detentions of basque politicians are horrific.

Brian Currin, a South African attorney working as a mediator, said the left-wing nationalist movement should not stop putting forward new initiatives despite the arrest of its top members.

Video:  http://www.eitb.com/video/en/news/politics/detail/277981/brian-currin-says-batasunas-initiative-is-praisworthy/

Batasuna statement on arrest of Basque activists

The following statement has been issued by Batasuna on the arrest of 10 activists of the Basque pro-independence movement Batasuna.
“On the 13th of October 2009 the Spanish National Police arrested 10 members of the Basque pro-independence movement. Among them Arnaldo Otegi, leader and spokesperson of Batasuna during the last peace process in the Basque Country, Rafa Diez, former National Secretary of the Trade Union LAB and Rufino Etxeberria, member of the Negotiation Committee during last peace process.”

“Firstly, Batasuna strongly condemns these political and judicial arrests.”

“Secondly, this is not the consequence of a judicial procedure but of a political decision. As it is publicly known, the Basque pro-independence movement has been and is immersed in an internal debate. The aim of these arrests is to stop political initiatives that the Basque pro-independence movement was due to activate – political initiatives to resolve the ongoing conflict and to create a democratic scenario for the Basque Country.”

“Thirdly, this is an attack against the whole of the Basque Country. The Basque Country needs a democratic scenario – a scenario based on the capacity of Basque society to decide upon its own future. The social and political majority in the Basque Country is in favour of a democratic transformation. This is why we believe that even if this has been a serious attack against democracy in the Basque Country we will be able to overcome it. It has clearly shown the aim of the Spanish Government: to stop all steps forward in favour of a democratic solution of the Basque conflict.”

“Finally we want to conclude saying that: The Spanish State will never be able to make the left pro-independence movement, Batasuna and the Basque Country disappear. We want all Political and Trade Union forces in the Basque Country to know that we are determined to take our responsibilities and to continue working to open a new democratic scenario for the Basque Country.

We call on the national and international community to act with responsibility.”

The Batasuna political party, formerly Herri Batasuna which was a part of the Euskal Herritarrok coalition in the 1990s has been banned by the Spanish Government since 2004 along with several other Basque political parties who are pro basque independence including:

Batasuna took their case to the European Court of Human Rights, in July 2009 the ECHR backed the Spanish Governments rulings banning Batasuna and the other Basque parties. Batasuna’s International relations issued a statement saying:

“We do not accept the content the judgement of the Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg on the appeal presented by Batasuna with regard to its banning by the Spanish State, as well as the banning of candidates and lists for the local and European elections. In political terms, it does not contribute anything to the political settlement of the Basque conflict, but just the opposite.”

“We believe that it is a clear step backwards for fundamental rights and freedoms in the European framework which can affect other progressive organisations in the future if they raise questions about the legal framework of the states in which they act.”

“Unfortunately the Court has accepted the reasoning and arguments initiated by the Government of Mr. Aznars Popular Party, with the consent of the PSOE, in order to prevent solutions in the Basque Country and to put in place a situation of permanent confrontation.”

“We recall that the ‘Law on Political Parties’ which was created ad hoc in order to ban Batasuna (and later on other political organisations supported by or related to the Basque pro-independence left-wing) came into being under the cover of the antiterrorist offensive initiated by the Bush Government and, more specifically, within the framework of a PP Government that supported and encouraged the war against Iraq, together with the USA and Great Britain – a war whose consequences we all know – a total war against terrorism which permitted clear violations of fundamental rights and unacceptable restrictions on those rights.”

“In our understanding, apart from the political influences that underlie the assessments or considerations of the Strasbourg Court’s judgement, it endorses an infringement of the basic rights to political action and representation.”

“It is surprising that those who have still not condemned the dictatorship of Francisco Franco, those who have reconciled their political action with acts of State terrorism (the PSOE and the GAL), are the ones who are pleased about a judgement that, as far as we understand, does not contribute any solution to the basic problem that underlies the legal controversy: the continuation of a political conflict between the Basque Country and the Spanish state. Paradoxically, this judgement which points out that there are links between ETA and the Batasuna political party happens to reinforce an important conflict at the very heart of the European Union, as the same logic forces us to accept the existence of some 150,000 to 200,000 people who support and are linked to an organisation described as terrorist, in a country with three million inhabitants located in the centre of Europe.”

“Once more, the pro-independence left-wing wants to undertake a political analysis with a view to the future on a legal decision, a decision that appears to be contaminated by the long shadow of the Spanish state.”

“The Basque pro-independence left-wing has been committed and will continue with its clear and unequivocal commitment to a scenario of peace and democracy, based on non-violence and democratic rights for one of the oldest nations in Europe. It is a commitment that, notwithstanding the tragic events of a different nature which we have always taken into consideration, we have kept and will keep.”

“Therefore, we do not consent to many of the suppositions and references of the judgement; on the contrary, we consider that it justifies the actions of a state which has not hesitated and does not hesitate to violate basic rights through special laws (Antiterrorist Law, life imprisonment masked under the Parot Doctrine, Law on Parties…).”

“Sincerely, we believe that the Chamber’s judgement is regressive, as it justifies new violations of basic rights of the citizens of the Basque Country. It is a backward step for all European citizens. It is a judgement that endorses security approaches to the detriment of rights and freedoms. Let us point out that, for instance, the judgement bestows the force of law on the resolutions of the Council of Ministers (of the Spanish state) concerning lists of terrorist organisations, even though this had been denounced by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe in the Dick Marty report.”

“We would like to launch a declaration of confidence in Basque society – in the political, trade union and social space, which confides in the pro-independence left-wing the role of guarantor of the development of a new process of political dialogue that will allow for progress towards truly democratic scenarios.”

“In spite of all this, Batasuna is still committed to political and social change in the Basque Country, to a serious democracy, to a process of dialogue and negotiation which will give rise to a new scenario for an inclusive peace within the country.”

“The best response, beyond the legal one, is to keep on working so as to provide a new political opening for the social majority which wants a political and social change in the Basque Country.”

“We do also reassert before the European community that there is no other way of settling the Basque conflict apart from inclusive dialogue and political negotiation, in a situation of non-violence and goodwill, leading to an agreement that recognises the democratic right of Basque citizens to decide on their own future, just as the European citizens of Ireland, Scotland, the Faroe Islands, Greenland, Flanders or other countries.”

“Restriction of rights will never be a way to bring peace. But, in spite of the difficulties that are imposed to us, we reaffirm our commitment to reach a just and lasting peace for the last European conflict. So be it.”