- UN blasts Spain's repression of Basque political parties.
- Spain defies UN and bans two more pro-independence parties
- ETA bombs Madrid’s financial district.
- Thousands support Democracy 3 Million platform.
NEWS :
-International Week of Solidarity with the Basque Country.
A public meeting in support of the International Week of Solidarity with Basque Country has held in London. The meeting started with the projection of the film The Spanish Inquisition, United Nations Association Media Peace Award ( 2006) winner by David O'Shea.
David O'Shea traveled to the Basque Country and studied the roots of the conflict. He listened to torture allegations and the UN damaging reports, questioning the democratic credentials of the Spanish State.
It followed by a debate introduced by Saleh Mamon. Saleh is a human rights activist supporting the work of CAMPACC (Campaign Against Criminalising Communities). He is also engaged in campaigning against the occupation of Iraq and Palestine.
-UN blasts Spain's repression of Basque political parties.
A United Nations official said last Thursday that Spain's Law of Political Parties violates fundamental freedoms in the name of countering terrorism. According to Martin Scheinin, Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms, the law criminalizes as "support of terrorism" conducts that do not relate to any kind of violent activity.
In a 26-page report based on a fact-finding mission to Spain last year, Scheinin finds that the Law of Political Parties might be interpreted to include any political party which through peaceful political means seeks similar political objectives to those pursued by the armed group ETA. The report reiterates that all limitations on the right to political participation must meet strict criteria in order to be compatible with international standards of freedom of speech.
The Special Rapporteur also calls upon the Spanish government to consider placing terrorism cases under the jurisdiction of ordinary district courts, instead of a single central specialized court, the Special National Court, with exclusive jurisdiction over so-called “terrorist crimes”. The report finds that judgements issued by the Special National Court are only subject to review by the Supreme Court.
The report also recommends the "complete eradication of the institution of incommunicado detention" and assurance of "prompt, independent, impartial and thorough investigations are conducted in any case where there is reason to believe ill-treatment may have occurred."
Download the report
-Spain defies UN and bans two more pro-independence parties
Just days after the UN report criticizing the practice, Spain's Supreme Court barred two more parties from running in the next regional elections on grounds of supposed links to ETA. Following a request by Spanish prosecutors and repeated calls from Spanish parties and media, the Supreme Court barred Askatasuna (Freedom) and Democracy 3 Million, both left-wing Basque nationalist parties. According to the ruling, the two parties are successors to Batasuna, which was declared illegal by the Supreme Court in 2003. The election for the 75-seat Basque three western provinces’ parliament is set for 1st of March.
D3M’s lawyer expressed her anger at what she called lack of evidences and legal basis. She went on to say that police social control is scary. Candidates’ privates lifes have been tracked as far as 1983 in order to prove that they have some sort of link with the pro-independence movement. Despite such a thing is not an offence the judges take spurious and perfectly legal acts like writing a letter to a prisoner to criminalize the candidates.
-ETA bombs Madrid’s financial district.
A car bomb exploded yesterday in a business district of Madrid, following a telephone warning claiming to be from ETA, the Basque armed organization. No one was hurt in the blast, which destroyed about 30 cars and blew out windows at nearby offices, leaving a crater in the ground about one metre deep.
The Spanish Red Cross received the warning call 90 minutes prior to the blast, allowing police to cordon off the area before the device exploded at around 9am. The incident came a day after Spain's supreme court banned Demokrazia 3 Miloi and Askatasuna, two Basque nationalist parties, from participating in March's regional elections in the Basque Country, because of what the court said were their links to ETA.
The explosion occurred near the offices of Ferrovial, a construction company which has been involved in a high-speed rail project linking the capital to the Basque Country.
In December, ETA warned contractors working on the project they would become targets if they continued to work on the train line.
The controversial High Speed Train project has been confronted by a wide alliance of left wing parties, trade unions and environmentalists for many years now. They say this train will destroy the Basque Country and compromise seriously its future. They demand a public and open democratic debate around it so the Basque people can decide whether is needed or not. The pro-Spanish and local elite reaffirmed their intentions to impose the High Speed Train at any price.
-Thousands support Democracy 3 Million platform.
Thousands of people filled the Kursaal conference hall in Donostia/San Sebastian last Saturday during the first public event organised by the electoral platform Democracy 3 Million. The platform was launched less than a month ago and in just two weeks collected 47,000 legal signatures in order to be able to stand in the 1st of March local elections.
On the 23rd of January 8 of the D3M members were arrested by Spanish police and sent to prison. They were accused of trying to organise the platform and trying to take part in the elections. Today another 13 people have been officially called by Spanish judge Garzon to appear in court this coming Friday accused of terrorist organization membership. Their alleged crime is to be the legal representatives of the electoral platform.
Speaking at last Saturday’s event election candidate Itziar Lopategi said they want to achieve a democratic scenario where all citizens' rights will be respected and all different political options will have place.
The most emotional moments of the evening were when the pictures of those arrested and later those of the Israeli slaughter of Palestinians where shown on the screen.
