Today, the prosecution, the private prosecution and the defence have reached an agreement to condemn the former national police who fired the house of a family from the Abertzale Left of Lezama to three years and nine months.
In principle, the sanction is not mild, but, although it seems otherwise, the three parties to the agreement have made an effort to ensure that the pensioner does not end up in jail. To this end, the first problem they have had is that the accusation itself was very serious, as the stockpiling of weapons of war entails quite high penalties. Consequently, it was impossible to reach an agreement that would automatically save the performance of the sentence. Because the prosecutor's office has not admitted that this crime is punishable by imprisonment for two years or less, because it can be a dangerous precedent for other cases, for example.
Thus, it is clear that for the three parties the only way not to imprison a man of almost 80 years was to ask for pardon.
Balance between what happened and the agreement
The prosecution, the prosecution and the defence have therefore entered into the agreement to satisfy each other ' s interests. The aim of the defence was to pave the way for a pardon, that of the prosecution and that of the prosecution, but not to do so to the detriment of reality. In fact, the indictment points out that the former police will oppose the arrest warrant, but what has happened must be acknowledged.
Thus, in the drafting of the document and before the judge the defendant had to clearly recognize that he had shot the house of the family of the Left Abertzale, and not involuntarily. In fact, when the former national police acknowledged firing, he said he was not a volunteer. In addition, it should be noted that this plea of guilt occurred on 10 January 2019. That is to say, four days after the shooting and the Ertzaintza went to explore her house. In short, it was not he who took the step to clarify the fact, because he did so when he was left without a solution. In fact, the Ertzainas went through their house twice before and the former police denied the shot, but seeing that their home exploration operation was underway, they decided to change their position.
Agreement about to ruin
Despite the generosity of the family who was shot at home, at the last moment all the negotiations have been about to run out of nothing by the defendant's head office. Specifically, when the judge asked the former police whether they agreed to the agreement, the latter replied yes, “but taking into account the situation.”
The pensioner then tries to argue that the arms wars were not useful (i.e. that he was somehow innocent). Thus, the judge reminds him that the initial request was thirteen years in prison against him and that by agreement it was three years and nine months.
The defendant then delays and accepts what was agreed by the party.
Generosity of the Lezama family
After the above, it cannot be denied that the family that received the shot acted generously and without a desire for revenge. Regardless of cruelty, and despite the fact that the defendant has not made any gesture of recognition (he has had five years asking for forgiveness from his family and has not done so), he is ready from the outset to prevent his imprisonment. Moreover, in the first phase of the negotiations, which took place today, they coincided with the approval of the sentence of two years in prison, but it was the head of the prosecutor’s office who was against his signature.
This family on the Left Abertzale does what is in their power not to end up in jail with the former police who shot. This is the attitude shown by Txema Matanzas (his lawyer and the EPPK attorney), who do not believe that the prison is reinstated in society and who do not find it beneficial for anyone to imprison a man almost 80 years old.
For Matanzas, such attitudes must be exemplary so that justice is not an instrument of revenge, as it happens and has happened to many others (with less reference to Basque political prisoners).
