The association in favour of Basque political prisoners Sare has pointed out that “what had to be done ten years ago has now been done and so we will be in legal normality”. Joseba Azkarraga and Bego Atxa spoke in Vitoria-Gasteiz and made it clear that this is not "a rule now to facilitate the departure of prisoners, but a measure to correct what they did in 2014".

It should be recalled that the European directive that ordered the recast of EU penalties dates from 2008 and was put into effect by Spain in 2014, but Basque prisoners are exempt from that law. Therefore, “late, but arbitrariness has been put to an end. The dates of dismissal of some people are advanced because these dates were unfairly delayed.”

As a result, it is estimated that the legal reform will affect 52 prisoners: 48 of them are in prisons in Euskal Herria, twelve in Martutene, 29 in Zaballa, five in Basauri and two in Pamplona. Another four detainees are being held in France, where they have been arrested in several prisons. The calculations are not always tender, but for Sare, seven of them will have to go out into the street immediately, being more years than it was, and the other fifteen who are already free fulfilled more than it was, “there is no legal formula to repair that loss of freedom they have lost”.

Doubts at the National Hearing in 2014

Both spokespersons point out that from the beginning there were doubts about the law and, however, progress was made. As they explained, even then, if the jurists had had good will, they would have gone to the EU Court of Justice in Luxembourg to ask whether Law 7/2014 was in line with the 2008 directive.

Moreover, three judges from the Third Section of the Criminal Chamber of the National Court tried to carry out this consultation, but the Presidency of the Criminal Chamber stopped the initiative at its root by understanding that it was something to demand from the plenary. And the plenary agreed not to request it, but not unanimously, five judges issued a separate vote, to which three more were added.

They have stressed that these inmates have been subjected to double harm, since they have served a higher penalty than was appropriate, and on the other hand, because during that time they could improve their prison situation by passing to different levels, “but they have not been able and have suffered an unjust obstacle to advancing their prison career. This damage is also irreparable.”

Amendment of the law was inevitable

It has also addressed those who have complained and been endowed with this legal reform, “they have been led to think that the impact of the 2014 rule would be prolonged in the indefinite time; when all the actors involved in this matter knew that sooner or later this matter would have to be redirected”. That the law was based on the approach of the fight against terrorism, but that is unjustifiable, “because ETA’s activity had been suspended since 2011, as it was known to all that ETA’s activity had disappeared definitively.”

Objective: 40 years in prison

Azkarraga and Atxa have concluded their hearing with two observations: on the one hand, they have asked the Basque administration not to delay the resolution of the proposals made by technicians and professionals of Basque prisons and, on the other, they have requested the repeal of Organic Law 7/2003. By this ad oc fighting law, the maximum penalty of 30 years in prison by law in Spain was changed to 40 years for ETA prisoners in 2003: “One of our main objectives will be the adaptation or repeal of this law.”

At the press conference, there have also been more evaluations and more extensive, and anyone who wants to know them can consult all of today’s appearance on Sare’s website.