France puts Mikel Barrios in prison for the arguments that call into question ETA’s disarmament
- The former prisoner of Pamplona/Iruña Mikel Barrios was sentenced this Tuesday by the Paris Correctional Tribunal to five years ' imprisonment. The prisoner of eta is due to re-enter Donostia prison next Monday.
The defence of Barrios has announced that he will appeal the sentence so that the former prisoner can remain under his control but in freedom. The final decision will remain in the hands of the judge, who has closed the door to the possibility of continuing on the street on a provisional basis until the appeal is resolved, so he will have to go into prison next Monday.
Among the arguments put forward for the re-imprisonment of Pamplona, the Public Prosecutor’s Office questioned ETA’s disarmament on the grounds that the French police have found several bulls in which to hide weapons. Not only that, but it has also called into question the very process of resolving the armed conflict by saying that "ETA militants have not changed", according to Maite Ubiria in Naiz.
Incomprehensible arguments for the defense of Barrios: he regrets the prosecutor’s attitude, but the judge considers it more serious to join them. In this regard, he recalled the steps taken since 2011 to achieve peace in the Basque Country. In addition, in the particular case of Barrios, he stressed that he lives and has work in Ipar Euskal Herria.
Barrios was arrested in Germany in 2017 with Iñigo Gulina, charged with an attempted murder. The French State imposed a Euroorder on him for "belonging to a criminal organisation" and, after spending two months in prison in Germany, he was transferred to Osny prison in the vicinity of Paris. He was released in October 2018. The defendant ' s lawyer has said that he has since respected the judicial control imposed on him by the judge.
On Tuesday afternoon, a concentration of solidarity with Itsasun Barrios was held and the trial at the National Hearing was denounced.
What surprised you the most when you left jail? I've been asked many times in the last year and a half.
See that the streets of Bilbao are full of tourists and dogs with two legs, for example? Or the changes in the political situation? The first one has tired me and annoyed me... [+]
Since we were transferred to Euskal Herria from the prisons of the Spanish State, in the prison of Zaballa we have found many deficiencies in the field of communication. We have fewer and shorter face-to-face contacts, we have had to make visits to the speaker in poor technical... [+]
