POLITICAL REPRESSION EXTENDED TO NORTHERN BASQUE COUNTRY

The purge of Basque political parties continued last week with the raiding of the Headquarters of the left wing Basque nationalist party, Batasuna, in Baiona/Bayonne, in the North Basque province of Lapurdi/ Labourd in the state of France.

14 Batasuna leaders were also arrested on Wednesday (24th September 2008), but the last to remain in custody were released without charge last night, due to insufficient evidence to justify their arrest.

The operation, carried out by French police, followed the banning of two other political parties in the Southern Basque Country in the Spanish state, as reported previously by the Celtic League.

Batasuna was banned in the Spanish state in 2003, and in 2007, 23 of its main activists were arrested, including former Batasuna leader, Arnaldo Otegi, who was released from jail late last month.

In a statement on his release, Otegi, who was jailed for 'glorifying terrorism', said:

«There is an unresolved problem in this country…I personally consider this problem will only be solved through dialogue and negotiation.»

The United Nations will raise concerns with Spain next month at its Human right Committee meeting «numerous violations of the freedom of expression, on grounds of fear of terrorism».

Since the shooting of two Spanish policemen in 2007 in the Northern Basque Country by ETA, Spanish and French police agreed to further increase cooperation.

So far both France and Spain have eschewed the road of dialogue and negotiation to resolve the long standing Basque demands for freedom. Groups like the Celtic League hoped the example of the British-Irish peace process may have been used as a template. So far efforts to persuade the Spanish to utilise the British-Irish deal as a template have failed.

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J B Moffatt Director of Information Celtic League

28/09/08