A full political trial, with exceptional laws and conducted in the courts. We have seen so many of these in the Basque Country. In fact, the repression has had and has a long history and different forms in the Basque Country. However, it has always had the same historical characteristic: Permanent violation and denial of the Civil and Political, Economic and Linguistic-Cultural Rights of the Basque Country and its citizens. They want to oppress us as a people, as a class and as a person, taking away our freedom. To do this, we have known the eleven faces of repression to bring to mind this multiple oppression in which we live.

The Court of Exception, the Laws of Exception... and, consequently, such a sentence. EXCEPTION is the situation that we have been living in the Basque Country for a long time. Depending on the situation, the repression is applied by the Spanish State in white or black. In the case of the youth of Altsasu, they have applied the blackest of the blacks and sanctioned their solidarity with them.

All this clearly indicates that we cannot content ourselves with not applying or making more flexible the policies of exception that have been implemented in the Basque Country over the years and the means that have been developed to implement them, all of them must be abolished.

Since the Franco era and all the legal architecture that they maintained in the regime of 78 has been shaped according to the needs, in constant violation of Civil and Political Rights. In this policy of strengthening their model of society, there has been a constant remodeling of the repressive system. We have to get rid of everything, make it disappear!

It has been six years since ETA laid down its arms and became a disarmed political entity, although it surrendered its arms a year ago and disbanded a few months ago, the two states have not changed their objective. They've changed their boots, but to keep kicking. However, they have begun to adapt the way of doing it, without rejecting the black repression, they have opened the doors wide to the white repression.

Thus, under the pretext of terrorism, young people from Altsasu have been tried, convicted and imprisoned in the National Court. Any judgment given by exceptional laws and courts will be unjust unless we end up with laws and courts.

They have occupied the people in order to intimidate and silence the people, in order to obtain a submissive and selfish society. This has not been enough and fines have been imposed to silence solidarity. But have you not yet realized that in the Basque Country solidarity prevails and that we will not be silent? Our diary is made up of dissidents, and we are convinced that unjust laws are to be disobeyed! Only in this way will we be able to protect Civil and Political Rights by disobeying unjust laws, abandoning these laws and the courts of exception and expelling from the Basque Country all those who are necessary to maintain them!

If we want civil and political rights to be respected, we must fight for it. We want Ainara, Adur, Jokin, Iñaki, Selva, Julen, Jon Ander, Aratz, Desire and Aitor LIBRE and for this we must fight for the rights of all.

So let’s take the streets to stop this injustice from happening again! To defend the civil and political rights of all! Free from the Altsasu!

By Joseba Álvarez and Maialen Begirit

The ELEA-Free Movement