2007/I/16
SEVERAL ASSESSMENTS OF THE CHARACTER OF THE SPANISH GOVERNMENT AND THEIR REPRESSIVE STRATEGY (II)

Independentzia eta Sozialismorantz
EUSKAL HERRIA STEP by STEP
ASKAPENA's information service Nº205

The Strasbourg European Court on Human Rights has recently upheld Batasuna's appeal against the Spanish state's illegalization of this political party, and of other Basque left political organizations.

At the same time, the Spanish justice -specially The Spanish National Court- keeps on pronouncing sentences against freedom of expression, verdicts that imprison lots of people, in a preventive way and without evidences. The more scandalous have been the political direction of Batasuna's imprisonment, and the macro-summary 19/98 verdict that sentences 47 our of the 56 defendants to 525 years imprisonment. As we said in the previous bulletin, faced with this judicial outrage many people remain impassive, but many other people who are not in the Basque Country donounce it. In this bulletin we also select some of this testimonies. We hope the quoted text do not loose part of their meaning when taken out of its context.

* The photo Garzón, Grande-Marlaska and Juan del Olmo, judges of the Audiencia Nacional court created by the Franco.

The Spanish National Court in pursuit of the Public Order Court [1] "....the Spanish National Court keeps on acting against any real democratic exercise, because this political system, applied to the Spanish one (very similar to de US one) makes fun of the basic rights, as Bush is doing in Iraq and no international court dares to judge him due to his war crimes.

During the whole development of the summary, human rights have been violated. Even Blas Piñar [2] would have signed the verdict. There are so many irregularities in the verdict that is logical to uphold its annulment in Strasburg, and also the prosecution of all the jurists who took part in this intolerable farce. Their crime: to pervert constantly the course of justice" (Carlos Tena, journalist).



Garzón and politics "...From the point of view of a lawyer, external observant, it is necessary to talk about Garzo's arrest of 23 members of Batasuna, because it is scandalous to send to prison people who took part in a political meeting, and because it is another step towards criminalization of the political activity, something that we have already denounced ... Judicial power has given up its role in a democratic society, that is, its strictly jurisdictional aspect. Betraying his arbitrator function, the judge becomes a pure political agent, who takes part actively in the political debate conditioning with his decisions the political life... The real centers of political decision are located in the Spanish National Court, and in the Spanish Constitutional Court ... The most relevant aspect of the sentence sending to prison 23 members of Batasuna is the complete absence of a juridical line of argumentation to justify such a serious measure ... Become a political analyst, the examining magistrate is allowed to asses the present and future intentions of a political group, as well as he is allowed to criminalize a political option supported by the 20% of the Basque society (August Gil Matamala. lawyer of the Barcelona Bar Association, and former president of AED).

The logic of war and the 18/98 macro-summary "Since the Political Parties Law passed, the attacks against political and civil rights started. Several media were closed, political parties, and political demonstrations or activities were forbidden, new crimes were introduced on the Penal Code .... In this context, the Kafka-like labyrinth of the 18/98 macro-summary is not an isolated case. To consider a political or social action to be a ?support? to ETA's objetives in order to consider it a terrorist crime is to make one step towards a very dangerous way where the differences between a dissident and an enemy of the country, between an innocent and a guilty are eliminated. Moreover, if everything that sounds like pro-independence activity, or just do not agree with the commonplaces of the Spanish nationalism is considered to be ?ETA's environment? or, even worse, ?ETA's entrails?[3], the logic of war is ready. An Author Penal Code is being promoted, a Penal Code inspired in totalitarianism: the idea is to punish not the acts that someone has done, but to punish what someone is, or because what someone is supposed to be ... One can be a terrorist without knowing it, or one can be supporter of ETA without even being abertzale (Basque nationalist). Prosecution of people or organizations that with no violent ways do not agree with main aspects of the Constitutional order are not just ?collateral damages? of the anti-terrorist fight, but it is the failure of the Democratic State. Let's hope that the people who applaud it today, or just do not want to understand this danger, become aware one day!! (Jaume Asens, member or Barcelona Bar Association, and Gerardo Pisarello, Constitutional Law professor at Barcelona University).

The exploitation of Law in the 18/98 macro-summary. "...In our county is not unusual the violation of basic human rights during penal proceedings. This is the case of the 18/98 macro-summary where there have been serious violations of legal guarantees. Some of the main ones are:

· Norms have become expansive, which is specifically forbidden by the principle of legality.

· The society do not commit an offense, but a person does. Criminal responsibility is personal: Botin's crimes do not mean the disappearance of his Bank, the Banco Santander Central Hispano.

· The rights of the defendants have been violated: arrest period has been exceeded; their homes have been violated, as well as the communications secret, the free designation of a lawyer, the right to privacy, to honour, to personal safety. The political charge of the summary has abolished the proceedings rights as well as legal guarantees of the defendants.

· Basic rights and freedoms have been violated, for instance, the freedom of expression by the closure of several media...

The balance between the executive and the judiciary is broken in the Spanish state. Politicization of Justice as well as the fact that politics has become judicial, the instrumental use of laws and institutions situate us in a permanent judicial insecurity ... The power has strength, but has not democratic legitimacy, that is, we are not in a democratic state" (Amelia Alejandre Casado, and José Manuel Hernández de la Fuente, lawyers and E.H. Watch [4] observers during the 18/98 summary).



Euskal Herria, January 15, 2008.

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Notes of the translator:
[1] The Public Order Court was stablish by Franco to pursuit the political dissidence as well as ?public order? issues (for instance, homosexuality). After Franco's, death and with the so call ?Spanish democracy?, it became the Spanish National Court.

[2] Blas Piñas was one of the most notorious fascist politicians of Franco's regime.

[3] In the verdict of the 18/98 summary the Basque political groups are considered to be ?ETA's entrails? (sic).

[4] E.H. Watch is a group of international lawyers who attended as observers the 18/98 summary. Web site (in English): http://www.ehwatch.org/index_eng.htm