Two Donostiarras are at risk of jail for trying to put a banner in favor of prisoners
- Joseba and Eñaut Alvarez, parents and children of Donostiarras, have been sentenced for attempting to place a banner in favor of the release of prisoners in Plaza Nueva de la Parte Vieja on the eve of San Sebastián 2023.
In May last year, each of the defendants received a fine of EUR 750 and were summoned to testify, and they have now received a year-and-a-half penalty petition for Eñaut Álvarez and two and a half years for Joseba Álvarez, as confirmed by the same defendants. He is currently awaiting trial.
The Piztu Donostia platform has considered the demand for punishment as an attack on freedom of expression: “The banner is a socio-political initiative of different social actors, reflecting the problems experienced by San Sebastian, Euskal Herria and the world. Freedom of expression. San Sebastián Ciudad Mordaza”.
The defendants have explained to this media that they have received the request for punishment “for attack and injury to the authority”, recalling that they have also received an administrative sanction “in application of the law known as the Moorish law”. “It seems to us a very serious fact that the police act in this way against the citizens who are putting their demands on the streets, but even more serious is the judicialization of the facts and the search for criminal consequences against the citizens. We would also like to denounce that we are facing another action against freedom of expression and basic social, civil and political rights,” they added.
The facts
The militants have also recalled what happened on the eve of San Sebastian 2023 and stressed that the festivities of the neighborhoods and towns of Euskal Herria have always been “spaces for the feast and claim” and that the day of San Sebastian is no exception: “As we have done for many years, several citizens came to Plaza Nueva with the intention of hanging the flag that claimed the return home of family and friends imprisoned for fighting for the freedom of Euskal Herria. When we started putting the flag, the agents who were on Plaza Nueva said that it was forbidden to make demands and asked for reinforcements and launched themselves against the citizens. With batons and shields, between screams and threats, the Municipal Police officers flew against the neighbors and neighbors that we were putting the flag, until at the end they managed to cut one of the ropes of the flag with a knife, making it impossible for it to be placed.”
Despite the demand for punishment, they have stressed that they will continue to fight for the prisoners' return home: “Above all kinds of obstacles, we would like to stress that we will continue to place in the balconies, in the festivities and in the plazas of Euskal Herria and Donostia the demand for the return home of Basque prisoners.”
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