Euskal Herria Journal
Herri Batasuna Leaders Freed
Baiona, Euskal Herria - July 22, 1999
In a decision that gets the Spanish government off the hook, Spain's Constitutional Court on Tuesday overturned prison sentences against the leaders of the Basque pro-independence party Herri Batasuna (HB) for "collaborating" with the armed organization Euskadi Ta Askatasuna (ETA, Basque Homeland and Freedom).
After days of deliberation to find a justification to its decision to free the 22 HB leaders -- in the least damaging way to the state and the Supreme Court -- the court's 12 members ruled eight to four on Tuesday night that Spain's penal code articles under which the 23 HB leaders were tried and sentenced for collaboration with armed groups were unconstitutional.
They raced to thrash out a deal for a sentence which would save Spain from the humiliation of being equated to Turkey by the European Human Rights Court in Strasbourg. Here's the deal: the Constitutional Court agreed not to study other elements of the appeal by the jailed leaders who protested their innocence.
Government spokesman Josep Pique immediately rejected the suggestion that politics played a role in the leaders' imprisonment, insisting the Constituional Court's decision showed "the rule of law works regardless of who you are."
But in politics, where there is a will there is a way.
In December 1997 the Spanish government imprisoned 23 members of the National Board of the Basque political party Herri Batasuna (HB, People's Unity) for a 7 year jail sentence. Their alleged crime was to disseminate for public debate a video which discussed ETA's peace proposal for a democratic end to the existing conflict.
The Supreme Court failed to prove the participation of each of the 23 politicians in the decision to distribute the video and thus, it violated the principle of innocence.
International observers from human rights organizations in eleven countries watching the proceedings said the trial was political and arbitrary because organizations in Europe have made similar actions and not prosecuted.
The observers were bothered by the lack of evidence presented by the prosecution. In a joint statement issued during the trial, they said the accused were given the burden of proof which "violates the fundamental principle of the presumption of innocence."
The judges considered that a crime was committed when in fact the video had never been broadcast. Moreover, the judges applied Franco's penal code, which declared the crime of `collaborating with an armed band' as any type of collaboration with the activities and goals of an armed group. It thus criminalizes the role of intermediaries in disseminating negotiating positions or peace proposals in a bitter and long standing conflict.
The guilty verdicts and long sentences were praised by Spain's government and mainstream opposition parties but criticized from inside the Basque Country where even "moderate" Basques termed it politically motivated.
HB attorneys appealed the Supreme Court verdict and warned they would take the case to before the European Human Rights Court.
The release of the imprisoned HB leaders came hours after the Constitutional Court after the Constitutional Court ruling quashed the convictions.
One of them was released last year on health grounds, and the other 22 left prison in the early hours of Wednesday morning after 20 months behind bars.
But Eugenio Aranburu did not survive this latest political persecution of Herri Batasuna leaders. The HB leader was found dead hanging from a tree near his home -- a hanging not unlike the KKK in the U.S.
The body of Eugenio Aranburu was found a few hours before he was to be arrested and taken to Madrid along with the other 23 HB leaders that were prosecuted.
Euskal Herria Journalhttp://www.freespeech.org/ehj
http://osis.ucsd.edu/~ehj
http://www.contrast.org/mirrors/ehj
 |
 |