It was a political-judicial action that sought to sabotage the strategic change that began in the left Abertzale after the negotiation process 2006-2007. With our arrests, they built a narrative of the accusations with a dual objective: to banish the process of reflection and debate and thus influence its development. At the time, Socialist Minister López Aguilar spoke without any return of “building imputations” within the “anti-terrorist” strategy of the State.

Therefore, with Rubalcaba and Garzón as the main protagonists, that State maneuver had the immediate objective of preventing the change of strategy or, at least, that the cost of change was a split, even if this implied the duration of the armed struggle. In any case, the ultimate or strategic objective was to neutralize for decades the left indenpendentism as a subject and political actor of the national liberation process.

We all know what happened next. First of all, a trial of urgency, a judgment previously given by a court. Then there was a long history in the Supreme Court and in the Constitutional Court, where, with narrow votes, rulings against were ratified. Then the Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg accepted our request and its resolution was very clear: we did not have a fair trial because the court presided over by Angela Murillo did not act impartially.

Subsequently, the Supreme Court raised the reopening of the trial, trying to avoid the nullity of the conviction and the consequences that this might entail. This strange and unprecedented decision also had a clear political objective: to create instability in a context in which EH Bildu supported the government of Sánchez. Finally, although the judges of the PP have maintained consistency with the starting point of the process, the Constitutional Court has rejected the absurd claim of the Supreme Court, which has closed this legal trajectory of clear political persecution.

The Bateragune case can therefore be regarded as an obvious lawfare case. The instrumentalization of justice within a political strategy has been that.

Many Basques know this behaviour very well. Issues arising from the closure of EGIN and Egunkaria, summary 18/98…, among others, in all these cases justice has been instrumentalized within the State’s counter-terrorism strategy. Some sectors of the National Court still want to maintain this inertia. As an example, a few days ago the Prosecutor’s Office attacked several Sortu militants in a “fabricated” welcoming narrative.

These lawfares have been part of the political violence of the State and have brought torture and punishments of centenary imprisonment without any form of political recognition and/or reparation. In this sense, when Basque society advances along the path of coexistence, it is necessary, among other things, for the State to recognize and repair all its legal and police interventions, such as the Bateragune case. In fact, these interventions have been part of the strategy to combat Basque independence and have generated many suffering.

That is why, at a time when the Constitutional Court has decided to rectify the Supreme Court’s claim and to conclude its legal journey, we expected some reflection on this Basque lawfare by lehendakari Urkullu and the leaders of other political forces, especially given that at this time this matter has become particularly important in the attempt to transfer the Catalan process to political channels and solutions.

They have not made any thought about this, but those same leaders who remain in this bodily silence are constantly appealing to the independence left about reading the recent past.

We insist on the need for all political actors (as the Basque left did in its day) to recognize their responsibility at all levels of suffering that has caused and continues to generate political conflicts. And, of course, in the case of both Catalonia and Euskal Herria, the State must once and for all address the territorial conflict, accepting the plurinationality of the State and respecting the will of our nations.

Having said that, and despite the consequences we have had, today we can proudly say that the failure of Operation Bateragune has been total, because it has not achieved any of its objectives.

Today, the independence left is the first municipal force in the Basque Country and the decisive actor to expel UPN from the Navarre government equation and make possible the governability of the State. Fifteen years later, therefore, they have not managed to neutralise the independence left.

In addition, we have become a fundamental alternative and engine of the political process throughout the Basque Country. In November 2009, a few weeks after the arrest, we sent a message from Extreme prison saying that the strategic change of the Abertzale left would not stop, and today we say that thanks to that change our country and its future are changing.

Finally, we wish to express our gratitude to Basque society for the support, solidarity and love we have received during all these years of imprisonment and persecution. This broad solidarity has filled us deeply and given us strength to continue working for our people. We would also like to thank warmly the support received from the international community: José Múgica, Adolfo Pérez Esquivel, Gerry Adams, Desmond Tutu…, thank you all.

* Rafa Díez Usabiaga, Sortu militant.