Spanish Judge Baltasar Garzon bans the two remaining pro-independence parties ANV and EHAK.
Spanish police arrested yesterday 14 prominent members of Batasuna.
II International Week of Solidarity with the Basque Country.
6.000 signatures in favour of Arnaldo Otegi's immediate release.
Spanish Judge Baltasar Garzon bans the two remaining pro-independence parties ANV and EHAK..
On the 8th February 2008, judge Garzon ordered police authorities to shut down the offices of the remaining legal parties ANV, the Basque Nationalist Action party and EHAK The Communist Party of the Basque Lands. The two parties will be banned for 3 years. Their bank accounts have been frozen. They are also banned from standing in the next general elections that will take place on the 9th of March.
Judge Baltasar Garzon of the Spanish High Court accused the two parties, the Basque Nationalist Action party and the Communist party of the Basque Country of being inked to Batasuna.
Batasuna was declared illegal in 2003 and is banned from standing candidates in elections, the judge's ruling means that no Basque left-wing pro-independence party will be represented in the March 9 election.
The Supreme Court has also been presented with separate lawsuits from Spanish prosecutors to completely outlaw these two parties.
In 2003, the Supreme Court outlawed Batasuna on the grounds that it was part of ETA. To get around it Batasuna resurrected two small parties and had candidates standing for these 2 parties.
The Communist Party of the Basque Lands, EHAK, won nine seats in the 75-member Basque regional parliament in 2005.
Basque Nationalist Action Party, took part in municipal elections last year. Though half of its candidates were banned over alleged links to Batasuna, those remaining won 437 seats in towns and villages throughout the Basque Country.
This time around the Spanish judge is making sure that no left wing pro-independence party stands in the March elections.
The majority of Basque political parties and trade unions denounced this new attack.
Batasuna said that if the Spanish state takes everything as a “terrorist” act then Spain has a big problem. Batasuna repited once again that it is impossible to ban 15-20% of the population. If there was ever any doubt about the democratic character of the Spanish State, it is now obvious that it is a complete farce according to Batasuna.
Batasuna spokesperson and former member of the European Parliament Karmelo Landa told a local newspaper, a few hours before getting arrested that the best way to overcome these attacks is by multiplying political work. He said that despite the pro-independence movement spokespeople being arrested hundreds more come up at a local level, in universities, factories, etc. Landa said that at this stage the Spanish state can’t deny the existence of the Basque Country as a nation and the right of its people to decide about their future. This is a victory they try to destroy by using repression.
Landa was just back from Brussels where he met European politicians who were astonished at the terrible political developments in the Basque Country.
Spanish police arrested yesterday 14 prominent members of Batasuna..
Among the arrested were Karmelo Landa former Member of the European Parliament and Eusebio Lasa, Batasuna’s spokesperson.
The arrests happened yesterday morning. Most of the arrests were ordered by the leading anti-terrorist Judge Baltasar Garzon.
Garzon argues that the arrested were to become the new executive of the outlawed party Batasuna. Batasuna, was outlawed by the Supreme Court in 2003 on the grounds that it is part of the armed group ETA.
Police searched the houses of Karmelo Landa and Mikel Etxaburu, arrested in Bilbao, and seized several computers. According to the Basque public media, police also searched several houses in other Basque towns.
Protests were organised inmediately in hundreds of towns all accross the Basque Country : picket lines, road blockades, protests at local council meetings, press conferences, demonstrations...etc. These are happening on a daily basis.
II International Week of Solidarity with the Basque Country..
Participation in the Second International Week of Solidarity with the Basque Country has been very large and crowded. Although we do not have all the data on the table, we can show a profound joy: activities have been conducted in about 25 cities, and that means double the amount of mobilizations of last year's I Week of Solidarity. This year also more people have taken part in the different acts, as over 2,000 people have participated in various rallies, lectures, video, dinners, etc. Moreover, the groups of solidarity with the Basque Country, 'Euskal Herriaren Lagunak' (EHL), have increased and so has the participation of other groups, and social and political organizations. For all these reasons, Askapena congratulates all the ones who have been working in the EHL groups, as well as all the organizations and groups who have taken part in the Second International Week of Solidarity with the Basque Country.
Full news from Askapena at
http://www.askapena.org/berriak/men/karpeta_en/9927/ind_aska
6.000 signatures in favour of Arnaldo Otegi's immediate release..
Already a month since the www.arnaldoaskatu.org web page was presented they and more than 6.000.000 signatures have demanded Arnaldo Otegi's immediate freedom, among which can be found the support and solidarity of many international organisations and politicians.
Those signing the document emphasize both the important roll carried out by Arnaldo Otegi as main spokesman of the Basque Pro-independence Left as well as by the important paper carried out in the political process, and indicate that its imprisonment is very serious underlining that behind its imprisonment hides a political decision.
1 March 2008
2 February 2008
news february 2008
The Basque Nationalist Action party highlights that the Basque Country is suffering from a lack of democracy.
Fraud and repression for the Basque Country. This is the evaluation of Batasuna around the 4 years of Jose Luis Zapatero's government.
A new testimony of brutal torture. Mattin Sarasola tells his 5 days of arrest under the Spanish Civil Guard.
Udalbiltza case acussed citizens get wide support.
New platform in favour of self-determination formed.
-The Basque Nationalist Action party highlights that the Basque Country is suffering from a lack of democracy.
The Basque Nationalist Action party, the remaining pro-independence party, wonders when will the repressive measures of the Spanish Labour Party PSOE stop.
ANV who fought against the Dictatorship alongisde the Spanish Party PSOE during the Second Republic period.
ANV has highlighted that the Basque Country is suffering from a lack of democracy.
One of the examples of it, is the measures the Spanish authorities will be taking against the Mayoress of the small town of Hernani. At the rally in Iruna/Pamplona two weekends ago, Marian Beitialarrangoitia expressed solidarity with Basque political prisoners and with the Basques who have recently been brutally tortured.
Following that the Spanish authorities have opened a case against her.
Over 700 prisoners, the imprisonment of members of social, political and cultural groups, tortures etc. are the proof of a lack of democracy in the Basque Country according to the ANV Party. The pro-independence party has also accused the Basque Nationalist Party PNV of cooperating with the Spanish authorties by not saying anything about the current political situation.
The Spanish General Prosecution service has also stated that it has now gathered enough evidence to illegalise the ANV party. And this is likely to take place in the near future.
Following this, the ANV party has stated clearly that no one will stop them from taking part in the next general elections on the 9th of March.
ANV has presented the 8 candidates who will stand at the Spanish Congress and Senate election next March. They said they will stand at the elections to state that the Basque Country is a nation and that it is time to break the ties with Spain.
ANV has been actually been very busy in the last couple of weeks presenting their election manifesto in towns, villages, schools, faculties, factories… all around the country. They have organised meetings, assemblies, events, press conferences, recorded videos…etc. to mobilise the grassroots of the party and to reach as many people as possible in favour of independence. The slogan of the campaign is "We, the Basque nation, independence".
- Fraud and repression for the Basque Country. This is the evaluation of Batasuna around the 4 years of Jose Luis Zapatero's government.
The pro-independence movement has made an evaluation of the four year-government of Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Zapatero. At a very busy press conference last week pro-independence spokespeople Pernando Barrena and Eusebio Lasa summarized it in two words: fraude and repression for the Basque Country. They said Zapatero will be remenbered as another Spanish prime minister who destroyed a great opportunity to resolve the political conflict.
They accused the Spanish government of lying about what happened during the political negotiation process. When asked about the future, Pernando Barrena said that the Spanish government is involved in the final assault against the pro-independence movement and that even more repression will come in the near future.
-A new testimony of brutal torture. Mattin Sarasola tells his 5 days of arrest under the Spanish Civil Guard.
"They made me walk down a path, and they simulated that they were executing me. They told me that they were going to do what they did to Zabalza". This is the new testimony of torture from Mattin Sarasola.
Last week we heard Igor Portu's testimony of torture. Igor and Mattin were both arrested two weeks ago by the Spanish police. Igor ended up in the Intensive Care Unit of Donosti/San Sebastian's hospital after being brutally tortured.
This week Mattin tells what the Spanish police did to him with total impunity.
Even Spanish Judge Grande Marlasca has acknowledged that there are too many coincidences and similar stories in the two men's testimonies.
Both men reject the version of the police which says that they were arrested at a check point and that they resisted being arrested. This is what the official version says. The two men say that they were pushed down a mountain path in which they were tortured. In both cases they talk about simulating the execution of one of them. They also mention being tortured in the river.
The Spanish Civil Guard told Mattin that they would do to him what they did to Mikel Zabalza in 1985. Mikel Zabalza was a Basque citizen killed by the Spanish police through torture. Zabalza was found dead in a river
Mattin Sarasola also says that he was hit over and over again. Heavy blows in the chest, they put a bag over his head to suffocate him and forced him to do physical exercise. This provoked anxiety attacks and asthma. When transferred to Madrid, an agent who was wearing a glove kept pulling his testicles over and over again. He was also threatened with electro shocks and the bath.
The group against torture TAT, has accused the Spanish Special Court of leaking fake medical reports to the Spanish media. A doctor attached to the Special Court has released a report denying any ill treatment and torture suffered by the two Basque citizens.
Following these events, hundreds of Basques have demanded the end of torture in Irunea/Pamplona and Lesaka.
In both towns, hundreds of people gathered to protest against the brutality and the strategy of repression designed by the Spanish government.
-Udalbiltza case acussed citizens get wide support.
Those accused of being members of Udalbiltza, the first and only Basque national institution, have begun a round of meetings to gather support before their trial starts.
Udalbiltza was created in 1999 by more than 600 councillors from different political parties of the seven provinces of the Basque Country. Udalbiltza aims to develop national plans to build and defend the Basque Country in all crucial areas such as economy, culture and education.
The Spanish government arrested and imprisoned the national executive of Udalbiltza and banned it. Now it wants to judge its members in a new political trial.
National and local meeting are being held with councillors and social organizations and trade unions to organise a response to the trial and at the to boost Udalbiltza's work.
-New platform in favour of self-determination formed.
Several high profile Basque people from the cultural and social sector in the Basque Country presented on Friday a manifesto claiming the right to decide and "to open the path of peace and normalization."
The platform "Erabaki" (To Decide) aims to build the "capacity to decide our future as a society and as a nation."
The official manifesto has been presented under the name of We want to decide and we shall decide!
The platform looks for support through a web site and has called a rally in favour of the right to decide at the Kursaal Conference Centre in Donostia-San Sebastian next February 10th.
According to the manifesto "all Basques have the right to be consulted on the problems they are concerned about and have the right to decide freely of their own future".
"The Basque Country, one of the oldest countries in Europe, has the right to decide freely of its own future in accordance with the right to self-determination".
Fraud and repression for the Basque Country. This is the evaluation of Batasuna around the 4 years of Jose Luis Zapatero's government.
A new testimony of brutal torture. Mattin Sarasola tells his 5 days of arrest under the Spanish Civil Guard.
Udalbiltza case acussed citizens get wide support.
New platform in favour of self-determination formed.
-The Basque Nationalist Action party highlights that the Basque Country is suffering from a lack of democracy.
The Basque Nationalist Action party, the remaining pro-independence party, wonders when will the repressive measures of the Spanish Labour Party PSOE stop.
ANV who fought against the Dictatorship alongisde the Spanish Party PSOE during the Second Republic period.
ANV has highlighted that the Basque Country is suffering from a lack of democracy.
One of the examples of it, is the measures the Spanish authorities will be taking against the Mayoress of the small town of Hernani. At the rally in Iruna/Pamplona two weekends ago, Marian Beitialarrangoitia expressed solidarity with Basque political prisoners and with the Basques who have recently been brutally tortured.
Following that the Spanish authorities have opened a case against her.
Over 700 prisoners, the imprisonment of members of social, political and cultural groups, tortures etc. are the proof of a lack of democracy in the Basque Country according to the ANV Party. The pro-independence party has also accused the Basque Nationalist Party PNV of cooperating with the Spanish authorties by not saying anything about the current political situation.
The Spanish General Prosecution service has also stated that it has now gathered enough evidence to illegalise the ANV party. And this is likely to take place in the near future.
Following this, the ANV party has stated clearly that no one will stop them from taking part in the next general elections on the 9th of March.
ANV has presented the 8 candidates who will stand at the Spanish Congress and Senate election next March. They said they will stand at the elections to state that the Basque Country is a nation and that it is time to break the ties with Spain.
ANV has been actually been very busy in the last couple of weeks presenting their election manifesto in towns, villages, schools, faculties, factories… all around the country. They have organised meetings, assemblies, events, press conferences, recorded videos…etc. to mobilise the grassroots of the party and to reach as many people as possible in favour of independence. The slogan of the campaign is "We, the Basque nation, independence".
- Fraud and repression for the Basque Country. This is the evaluation of Batasuna around the 4 years of Jose Luis Zapatero's government.
The pro-independence movement has made an evaluation of the four year-government of Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Zapatero. At a very busy press conference last week pro-independence spokespeople Pernando Barrena and Eusebio Lasa summarized it in two words: fraude and repression for the Basque Country. They said Zapatero will be remenbered as another Spanish prime minister who destroyed a great opportunity to resolve the political conflict.
They accused the Spanish government of lying about what happened during the political negotiation process. When asked about the future, Pernando Barrena said that the Spanish government is involved in the final assault against the pro-independence movement and that even more repression will come in the near future.
-A new testimony of brutal torture. Mattin Sarasola tells his 5 days of arrest under the Spanish Civil Guard.
"They made me walk down a path, and they simulated that they were executing me. They told me that they were going to do what they did to Zabalza". This is the new testimony of torture from Mattin Sarasola.
Last week we heard Igor Portu's testimony of torture. Igor and Mattin were both arrested two weeks ago by the Spanish police. Igor ended up in the Intensive Care Unit of Donosti/San Sebastian's hospital after being brutally tortured.
This week Mattin tells what the Spanish police did to him with total impunity.
Even Spanish Judge Grande Marlasca has acknowledged that there are too many coincidences and similar stories in the two men's testimonies.
Both men reject the version of the police which says that they were arrested at a check point and that they resisted being arrested. This is what the official version says. The two men say that they were pushed down a mountain path in which they were tortured. In both cases they talk about simulating the execution of one of them. They also mention being tortured in the river.
The Spanish Civil Guard told Mattin that they would do to him what they did to Mikel Zabalza in 1985. Mikel Zabalza was a Basque citizen killed by the Spanish police through torture. Zabalza was found dead in a river
Mattin Sarasola also says that he was hit over and over again. Heavy blows in the chest, they put a bag over his head to suffocate him and forced him to do physical exercise. This provoked anxiety attacks and asthma. When transferred to Madrid, an agent who was wearing a glove kept pulling his testicles over and over again. He was also threatened with electro shocks and the bath.
The group against torture TAT, has accused the Spanish Special Court of leaking fake medical reports to the Spanish media. A doctor attached to the Special Court has released a report denying any ill treatment and torture suffered by the two Basque citizens.
Following these events, hundreds of Basques have demanded the end of torture in Irunea/Pamplona and Lesaka.
In both towns, hundreds of people gathered to protest against the brutality and the strategy of repression designed by the Spanish government.
-Udalbiltza case acussed citizens get wide support.
Those accused of being members of Udalbiltza, the first and only Basque national institution, have begun a round of meetings to gather support before their trial starts.
Udalbiltza was created in 1999 by more than 600 councillors from different political parties of the seven provinces of the Basque Country. Udalbiltza aims to develop national plans to build and defend the Basque Country in all crucial areas such as economy, culture and education.
The Spanish government arrested and imprisoned the national executive of Udalbiltza and banned it. Now it wants to judge its members in a new political trial.
National and local meeting are being held with councillors and social organizations and trade unions to organise a response to the trial and at the to boost Udalbiltza's work.
-New platform in favour of self-determination formed.
Several high profile Basque people from the cultural and social sector in the Basque Country presented on Friday a manifesto claiming the right to decide and "to open the path of peace and normalization."
The platform "Erabaki" (To Decide) aims to build the "capacity to decide our future as a society and as a nation."
The official manifesto has been presented under the name of We want to decide and we shall decide!
The platform looks for support through a web site and has called a rally in favour of the right to decide at the Kursaal Conference Centre in Donostia-San Sebastian next February 10th.
According to the manifesto "all Basques have the right to be consulted on the problems they are concerned about and have the right to decide freely of their own future".
"The Basque Country, one of the oldest countries in Europe, has the right to decide freely of its own future in accordance with the right to self-determination".
26 January 2008
Hello from London
Welcome to the London Basque Committees blog. This blog contains a monthly selection of news about Basque politics.
The information in this blog has been chosen with the intention of presenting an alternative account of the political situation in the Basque Country. Over the last few years we have experienced a complete failure of all attempts to find a peaceful settlement. In addition, we are regressing towards old anti-democratic policies.
There are many worrying signs about the current political situation. Banned newspapers and political parties, claims of systematic use of torture that receive no attention by the judiciary, police brutality to suppress the right of peaceful demonstration, ad-hoc law making and the dispersal of prisoners are all clear evidence of the political repression that is taking place against the wider Basque Independence Movement.
The information in this blog has been chosen with the intention of presenting an alternative account of the political situation in the Basque Country. Over the last few years we have experienced a complete failure of all attempts to find a peaceful settlement. In addition, we are regressing towards old anti-democratic policies.
There are many worrying signs about the current political situation. Banned newspapers and political parties, claims of systematic use of torture that receive no attention by the judiciary, police brutality to suppress the right of peaceful demonstration, ad-hoc law making and the dispersal of prisoners are all clear evidence of the political repression that is taking place against the wider Basque Independence Movement.
We believe that a political settlement for the Basque Country could also contribute to the solution of other conflicts. Resolving one conflict creates positive inertia and momentum. With the new geopolitical situation created by the War on Terror, peaceful resolution of armed conflicts seems to be a distant dream but if you have reached this blog you would probably believe another world is possible. Resolving a conflict which is now one of the oldest ones, and is taking place right under our noses, should be one of the main challenges for progressive political forces in Europe. We have seen it before, Northern Ireland and South Africa peace made an important contribution to the peace capital of the whole humanity. Unfortunately, similar solutions won't be possible in the Basque Country as long as we turn a blind eye to current situation.
Please read
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