Etxerat has underlined the progress made in the last two years with Basque prisoners, but has also denounced that many prisoners of the Group of Basque Political Prisoners and Prisoners are far from home and in prisons outside the Basque Country: 65 of the 183 prisoners in Spain and 17 in France. “We have to check that the cycle of dispersion and distancing is not definitively closed,” they warn.

They add that they refer to the “rights” of prisoners and not to the “benefits”. They consider it urgent to bring all prisoners closer: “Family and friends have been suffering from this unjust and atypical situation for over 35 years. We are talking about removing the policy of exceptions and applying ordinary law. We talk about rights, about rights enshrined in the law.”