On Monday, the trial of seven people who were part of the movement for Basque prisoners and lawyers started at the National Court in summary 13/13. Among the accused are Arantza Zulueta, Jon Enparantza, Naia Zuriarrain, Saioa Agirre, Nerea Redondo, Julen Zelarain and Iker Sarriegi; among the accused was also Juan Mari Jauregi, but his state of health has led him to declare out of the cause. They are accused of being "ETA's legal front". In total, prosecutor José Perals, which is the same as the Altsasu case, asks them for 77 years in prison.

It was to be seen whether it would be possible to reach an agreement between the parties, but since the associations of victims who presented themselves as a popular indictment did not, the procedure has continued. The first session raised previous issues, in which lawyers stressed that the procedure violates some of the rights of the defendants. Such violated rights would include the presumption of innocence, not having been tried twice for the same offence, and having a fair trial, among others. The defendants’ defenses, arguing for irregularities in the proceedings, called for the suspension of the trial, but the judge ruled in favour of proceeding further with the trial.

In the second session of the trial, which took place on Tuesday, the defendants in the banquills began to speak. Through the statements, the defendants have denied that they belonged to the ETA structures in which they participated. In addition, they have highlighted the important work done by lawyers and attorneys in the resolution of the armed conflict. They have also put on the table the testimonies of torture suffered by two of their colleagues, stressing that the statements were tortured.

Arantza Zulueta and Jon Enparantza were responsible for valuing the contribution of lawyers to the resolution of the conflict. Both were accused of belonging to Halboká and ETA, and both dismissed the accusation. "I have not been a member of Halboga or any ETA apparatus. I have not managed the revolutionary tax, nor have I had ongoing communication with ETA,” said Zulueta, who in September 2019 was sentenced to three years and eight months in jail for being a member of the organization’s management. Zulueta explained that he agreed to this collaboration to prevent the entry into prison of 45 of the 47 defendants in case 11/13, considering that it was a step "on the road to democracy, peace and coexistence". “I assumed my membership of the bar group, in which I have participated since 1989. From this perspective, I accepted my collaboration with the Coordination Group, from the perspective of coordinating the debate that the prisoners were conducting at that time.”

At Tuesday’s session he also highlighted: Naia Zurriarain and Saioa Agirre reported the reports of torture suffered during their detention, showing that in the case of women, torture usually goes hand in hand with sexual violence. Both Zurriarain and Agirre stressed that the statements were made under torture, written by the Civil Guard, and that they were instructed of their content.

The crudety of the two testimonies was what marked the session on Tuesday. In Berria's video you can hear the testimony of Naia Zurriarain:

Yesterday, in the judgment of summary 13/13, they focused on the crudity of two testimonies: Naia Zuriarrain and Saioa Agirre explained the torture and sexual violence suffered during detention.

BERRIA Full Video webgunean.https:/t.co/JEN2zMZIOR pic.twitter.com/bfyQBwnhMf

— Berria.eus (@berria) July 14, 2021