News December 2008

- ETA kills a businessman involved in the construction of the High Speed Train.

- Liberty Under Surveillance.

- The pro independence movement calls on all sectors of Basque society to look at ways of opening a new political cycle.

- Basques tortured during 60th anniversary of the Declaration of Human Rights.

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NEWS :

- ETA kills a businessman involved in the construction of the High Speed Train.

Inazio Uria owner of the Altuna and Uria construction company was shot dead in Azpeitia, Basque Country.

The 71 year old is one of the owners of Altuna and Uria one of the biggest construction companies in Gipuzkoa which owns many construction projects in the province, including the construction of the train tracks for the future high speed train.

The construction of the high speed train has created huge controversy in the Basque Country. This new project aims to connect France and Spain with a high speed train going through the Basque Country. Although politicians and business men believe that this would benefit the Basque Country, it would destroy the landscape, and would have huge negative socio economic implications.

This project has been rejected by a big section of Basque society and has been heavily criticized in the past by ETA. In fact the Basque armed organisation, has attacked the offices of the construction companies as well as their equipment involved in this project several times.

The killing has been condemned by politicians, trade unions and other institutions and have come out defending the high speed train project. Many protests have also taken place to condemn the killing.

Following Uria’s killing, the Spanish government has agreed to proceed to the banning of the remaining pro independence councils in the Basque Country.

Pro independence councils have refused to condemned the killing of Inazio Uria. Using this excuse, The Spanish right has been putting pressure on the government through the media to ban pro independence politicians from participating in councils in the Basque Country.

Liberty Under Surveillance.

The Spanish Council of Ministers has approved the introduction of the "Liberty Under Surveillance Bill", an extension of custody that attempts to impose up to 20 years of control and monitoring on Basque Political Prisoners once they are released. A measure that results, therefore, in a sentence of six decades, four behind bars and two more "under surveillance".

The reason given to justify the use of "Liberty Under Surveillance" is that the prison system does not fulfil the role of "reintegration". According to the new proposed bill, as with all previous steps aimed against the Basque pro-independence movement, the criteria that would govern judicial decisions depends on the "repentance" of prisoners. In fact, it introduces judicial supervision for life. This bill represents an outrageous intervention of the Spanish government into judicial matters to, once again, curtail and undermine basic civil and political rights.

The repertoire of measures imposed after release by the new bill include the prohibition to reside in certain places, the prohibition to leave his residence without permission of the judge, the obligation to appear regularly before the judge or the obligation to participate in work or training courses. As a final touch to this batch of measures, the Spanish Penal Code allows the judge to use electronic media to enable tracing and tracking of permanently released prisoners.


- The pro independence movement calls on all sectors of Basque society to look at ways of opening a new political cycle.

30 years after the Spanish Constitution was imposed upon Basques, the pro independence movement notes that it has no credibility what so ever in the Basque Country. On 6th December 1978, the Spanish Constitution was rejected by the majority of the Basques.
The pro independence movement, also acknowledges that they have a responsibility to propose an alternative and have called on all sectors of Basque society, specially the pro-independence ones, to debate and think about a common strategy to achieve a democratic scenario in the Basque Country.

- Basques tortured during 60th anniversary of the Declaration of Human Rights.

A French-Spanish police operation against ETA finished with eight people arrested. Three were arrested in France and five were arrested in the south of the Basque Country. It seems as though the French police allowed five to escape from their operation in order to let the Spanish police arrest them and torture them.

All of them have been sent to prison after five days incommunicado. During those days they were brutally tortured by the Spanish police. They were blind-folded and kept naked for the whole time; they were beaten, drenched in cold water, constantly suffocated with plastic bags and threatened with electric shocks and with being raped.

All of this happened while the world celebrated the 60th anniversary of the Declaration of Human Rights. The Spanish government took this opportunity to launch an alleged plan to stop torture. The anti-repression organization Askatasuna denounced the hypocrisy of such a thing and accused the Spanish government of using torture as a war tool against the Basque pro-independence movement.

Askatasuna stated that at least 60 Basque citizens have been tortured this year. In fact, 44 anti-torture Spanish groups criticized the Spanish government plan against torture. In a public letter they addressed to the Spanish prime minister Zapatero, they ask the government to follow the UNO recommendations and cease the incommunicado practice.

The Spanish branch of Amnesty International asked, along with the suppression of the incommunicado practice, for the use of video recording of the whole process of detention. Hundreds of people demonstrated in support of the detainees in their home towns during the week.