One delay after another: in principle, the judges would decide on 30 October whether or not they would release Fernández Iradi, but the decision was postponed until this Tuesday. It has now been known that the judge has joined the defence arguments and admitted that the illness he suffers is incompatible with prison. In addition, he has assured that, in the present situation, the release of the Lasartean prisoner would not entail any risk on the part of the eta.

However, as soon as the decision was known, the prosecutor has appealed the verdict and the final decision has been left to the Court of Appeal. It has a period of two months to publish the resolution on the case. Attorney Maritxu Paulus-Basurko has been concerned about the last word that has been left in the hands of this body, since, in her view, she “always rejects” requests for the release of Basque prisoners.

War on Medical Reports

Fernández Iradi has been in prison for sixteen years, the last seven years with multiple sclerosis, diagnosed in 2012. The Paris Hearing asked two doctors to issue a report on the state of health of Fernández Iradi, in which they said no, to be released because the disease is incompatible with being in prison. The judge was not satisfied with this decision, but requested a new report before ratifying the decision of the National Court.

The other two reports coincided with the Prosecutor’s Office’s arguments and in 2015 the magistrate concluded that there were resources in jail to deal with the disease and that the Prosecutor’s Office did not have. The judge, based on this argument, decided that he was going to keep her in jail.

Fernandez’s lawyers appealed this judgment, so the case came to the Court of Cassation and what the judge had decided had no effect. In November 2016, the Court of Criminal Applications rejected the request for a stay of conviction, re-appealed the prisoner’s lawyers, and Tuesday’s decision was a result of this long trial.

Like Fernández Iradi, there are 21 severely ill Basque prisoners scattered in prisons in the Spanish and French States. On 29 October, the Basque prisoner José Ángel Otxoa Eribe, locked up in this situation, died; and in January of this year, Oier Gómez and Juan Mari Mariezkurrena also died, the three who also went to the streets to treat the disease.