Durangués Guillermo Merino, released after serving 24 years in prison
- Merino was arrested in 2001 and has been dispersed, having spent much of his sentence in prisons outside the Basque Country in "difficult" conditions. Now, he has regained freedom.
Durangués Guillermo Merino has been released after serving his sentence in full, as reported by ETXERAT in a statement. The prisoner has been in prison for 24 years, 20 of them away from Euskal Herria and in "difficult" conditions to maintain his relationship. The release process began in February 2023, when he obtained the third prison grade. In May of the same year he was released on probation. Now, he has completely regained his freedom.
Merino was arrested by the National Police in Basauri in January 2001, charged with a crime of belonging to ETA's "Bizkaia Command". Since his arrest, he has remained in prison for many years, mainly in Picassent (Valencia) prison, where he was admitted to prison. The conditions of Picassent were “particularly harsh”. In 2017, for example, prisoners stayed 21 hours a day in their cells. In addition, external communications were very limited: I could make only eight five-minute calls a week and receive two letters by mail.
To visit her, her family and friends had to travel about 1,200 kilometers round-trip, and the visits had an approximate duration of 40 minutes. In 2020, Merino was first transferred to a closer prison from Picassent to Zuera (Zaragoza). A year later he was transferred to a prison in the Basque Country, in particular that in Basauri, where he has served the final stage of his sentence.
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