- The Basque political prisoner Josetxo Arizkuren, a terminal cancer patient in Pamplona, suffered a heart attack on 29 November and is hospitalized. The Sare Citizen Network has denounced that they have little information about their state of health and that they do not have a single family member or a trusted doctor. Arizkuren and 17 other political prisoners with serious illnesses have asked for their return home in a rally that took place in Pamplona/Iruña on 30 November.
The Sare Citizens' Network explained that Arizkuren "has long been diagnosed with severe ischemic heart disease and that the disease suffers". It has been fighting this serious disease for a long time in harsh conditions, far away in Murcia prison and in the first grade since the beginning of the sentence. We had just learned recently that he was going to be transferred to Logroño and that they would go to second grade." Sare denounces that this change is late: "It's late and it's not enough! Being a seriously ill prisoner, since he had long been serving the sentence at home, receiving adequate care and living in a protected and quiet space that would avoid what happened".
Here is the concentration called by Sare on November 30 in Pamplona:
Concentration to demand the freedom of the Pamplona prisoner Josetxo Arizkuren today in Iruñea to #DisemBags Etxera.
Concentration in Pamplona to cut off the freedom of the Basque prisoner in Arizkuren. #PresxsEnfermxsACasa pic.twitter.com/Y1djQMGAyV
— Sare #IzanBidea ↗️ (@sare_herritarra) November 30, 2020
Information "confusing and scarce"
Sare has denounced that information on Arizkuren's situation is "confusing and insufficient": On 29 November they were told that he had "a mother of a heart" and the following day that he had suffered a heart attack and that he was hospitalized: "Therefore, we have not received clear information about their state of health, aggravating the concerns and fears that this entails for family members. To all this is added the fact of being away and, consequently, neglected by trusted doctors". This is what Sare has asked for: "Josetxo can't spend another minute without the attention of his relatives and a trusted doctor who serves him. Josetxo has to be at home.
"Arizkuren and 17 other seriously ill prisoners at home"
The Sare citizen network has recalled that, like Arizkuren, there are another 17 prisoners with serious illnesses in prisons. In compliance with the law, request a re-entry: "As has been done in recent months with many seriously ill prisoners, it is necessary to bring Josetxo and 17 other inmates home, and perfectly possible within the law, so there is no reason or excuse to keep them in prison."