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Spanish National Court (Audiencia Nacional) rules against Arnaldo Otegi, Rafa Diez, Miren Zabaleta, Arkaitz Rodriquez and Sonia Jacinto 16.09.2011 | Basque Info
The Spanish National Court has sentenced Otegi and Diez (who is on bail) to ten years of prison each,
Miren Zabaleta, Arkaitz Rodriquez and
Sonia Jacinto to eight years each.
This new judicial attack has to be understood in the current situation as an attack on the ongoing
process and as an attempt to put obstacles for its development. This process is unstoppable and this
kind of juridical actuation can only be understood as an attempt to slow down its development, trying
to weaken the Abertzale Left and introducing juridical affaires on the political arena.
The Peace Process has to overcome the current unilateral phase and become multilateral to allow further
steps towards political normalisation. We understand that two main issues have to be dealt with; the
legalization of the Abertzale Left, enabling it to carry out all its political activity and consequently,
the cessation of all persecution and repression against its activists. On the other hand, we call for the
urgent deactivation of the cruel prison policy currently applied to Basque political prisoners.
We call on all actors to get involved in the consolidation and development of the new phase opened in our
country to achieve a full democratic stage of rights and freedoms, as well as the free exchange of ideas
and projects.
The Bateragune case.
On October 9th, 2009, Spanish Police arrested 10 members of the Abertzale Left in the Basque Country.
The Spanish Government accused them of following ETA's orders to allegedly re-construct Batasuna, but
soon different Basque parties and the Abertzale Left denounced that this group of people had been
preparing the basis for an important debate, a new opportunity for peace. A debate about the strategy
the Abertzale left needed to develop for the future.
They were put on trial from June 27th to July 7th of this year. The Spanish Government's accusation was
based on the interpretation of documents by police inspectors considered to be experts regarding the
Abertzale Left's strategy and history. This was the only evidence presented by Government. As had
happened in the treason trials in South Africa against the African National Congress, the only element
of proof was the ideological bias of police officers and their one-sided interpretation of documents
by "Securocrat" elements of the Spanish Government through the Prosecution. Just as it was fifty years
ago in South Africa, any document was seen as a "communist conspiracy", right now in the Spanish State
there is a "terrorist conspiracy" behind any document or organisation. We must highlight that the Court
refused the presence of several diverse national and international witnesses who would have testified
about the debate that the accused were carrying out within the Abertzale Left.
During the initial trial the accused accepted that they were part of a group of people who had been
preparing the basis for a strategic debate that the Abertzale Left undertook, in spite of their arrests,
in the following months. This debate was public and its consequences are well known. The Abertzale Left
has opted for an exclusively political and democratic strategy and ETA has unilaterally declared a
permanent, general and internationally verifiable cease-fire. The Abertzale Left presented Sortu as
a political party that rejects violence, and Bildu (an electoral coalition formed by Eusko Alkartasuna,
Alternatiba and Abertzale-left independents) which obtained 315.000 votes and became the second largest
political force in the Basque Country.
Arnaldo Otegi Mondragon
Otegi is the main leader of the Abertzale Left. He has been in prison since October 2009 because of the
"Bateragune Case".
Arnaldo Otegi was arrested and condemned in the eighties for being a member of ETA. He served his sentence
and was released in 1993. In 1997, after the arrest and imprisonment of the whole "Mesa Nacional"
(chief national executive members of Herri Batasuna) Arnaldo Otegi was designated as the spokesperson
for the new National Executive. He has remained one of the key members of the Abertzale Left since then
and he has taken part in all peaceful attempts for a negotiated resolution to the conflict.
He was arrested just three days after the official collapse of the last peace process, June 2007, and
sent to jail to serve his sentence (until 2008) for an homage to Jose Miguel Ordeñana, "Argala" a member
of ETA killed by the Spanish Basque Battalion (BVE), an illegal Spanish paramilitary force active in
carrying out armed attacks against presumed ETA members in the late 70's early 80's. Previously, at
the beginning of the peace process he was also arrested and sent to prison, before being released on
bail.
Rafa Diez Usabiaga
Diez was arrested in the same operation and is the former Secretary General of the Basque trade Union LAB,
which is a member of the WFTU. He is a long standing union organizer who was also involved as an adviser
in the 1987 peace talks that took place in Algeria by the Spanish Government and ETA.
Others arrested: Sonia Jacinto, Arkaitz Rodriguez and Miren Zabaleta, Amaia Esnal, Txelui Moreno and José
Manuel Serra
On the October 9th, 2009, Arnaldo Otegi, Rafa Diez and the other eight members were arrested for the
Bateragune case.
Original version:
basquepeaceprocess.info
September 16, 2011 read more >>
Foto:
Arnaldo Otegi at the Bateragune trial (GARA, June 2011)