Last May, Jurdan Martitegi, one of the historic leaders of the ETA terrorist group, addressed the prosecution service of the Martutene Prison (San Sebastian) with a somewhat unusual request. He wanted a birthday cake on his birthday month.
He knew in advance that they were going to grant it, because there, as in the other Basque prisons, none of the ETA detainees encounters any objection to any of their requests.
“It was a normal sized cake. Such a thing had never been allowed before.” This anecdote is, forgive the redundancy, just the icing on the cake. Martitegi was authorized to introduce this cake against payment, but not only that.
The privileges enjoyed by him and the rest of the ETA members are such that the rest of the inmates complain to the management of the penitentiary centers because they want the same thing and it is not granted to them.
Since the Basque Government took charge of the prisons in 2021, it has started to modernize its prisons. Thus, Martutene has become a much more “inmate friendly” facility.
The last measure was the purchase of 1,280 new televisions so that the vast majority of prisoners have a screen in their cell. Something that ETA Martitegi also benefits from.
139 years in prison
This former ETA boss was sentenced in March 2014 to 139 years in prison. He is accused of eight crimes of attempted terrorist attack with homicidal intent, one crime of destruction, two counts of illegal detention and one count of theft. We find in the second degree, the ordinary regime of deprivation of liberty.
As EL ESPAÑOL learned from prison sources, Martitegi managed to get the prison to allow him to start going out to take classes at the National University of Distance Education (UNED). Martutene management applied article 117 of the Prison Regulations.
The standard establishes that “inmates classified in the second level of treatment who present a profile of low social danger and do not present a risk of violating their sentence. They will be able to go regularly to an external institution to carry out a specific program specialized care, whenever necessary for their treatment and social reintegration.
This legal principle, which comes from the prison where this leader and other gang leaders are located, assures EL ESPAÑOL, is designed for the treatment commissions to apply it to prisoners sentenced to sentences of a few years.
“They are not breaking the law, but normally it would apply to a person who is about to serve their sentence,” explains a center official. “Not to a guy serving a sentence of over a hundred years.”
Thus, Martitegi leaves prison “through the door, as if he were going for a walk”, without police custody, and goes to class. “It’s the first time in my life that I’ve seen something like that. It’s something unthinkable in prisons.”
These weeks are full three years after the transfer of ETA members to penitentiaries in the Basque Country. The anniversary is punctuated by the controversial decision of the umpteenth third degree to two members of ETA, granted this time by the socialist advisor to the Basque Government, Maria Jesus San José.
“No one expects special treatment from me for ETA prisoners,” the new advisor told Parliament less than a week ago.
Third degrees
Since taking control of Basque prisons, the benefits have been consistent for ETA members, to the point where officials are calling what the government is doing an “open door” policy.
According to the Prison Policy Observatory of the Association of Victims of Terrorism (AVT), the Basque Government awarded 81 third diplomas to ETA since he controls his own prisons. 65 terrorists took advantage of it.
Of the total, 16 of these concessions were revoked by the prison surveillance judge of the National Court after the Prosecutor’s Office appealed, arguing that the terrorists in question did not meet the requirements of repentance and collaboration with justice which are required of these detainees.
It is for this reason that the Basque Government has granted to some of them repeatedly to the same murderersdespite the fact that justice has determined that ETA detainees have not yet shown repentance.
The sources consulted assure that over the last four years, there have been centers to common law prisoners to make way for members of ETA, who enter directly into the most lax modules. On certain occasions, ETA members were allowed choose a cellalways individual for them.
They have at their disposal the most comfortable jobs -the commissary is better than cleaning the toilets-, for those who receive salaries from public money. Sometimes the rules are broken and in those moments Reports of possible sanctions mysteriously disappear, according to the sources consulted.
ETA’s lawyers and their political allies Every day they look for legal loopholes to improve the prison situation of these prisoners, sometimes classifying them in third degree, the most lax, or obtaining them ordinary or extraordinary releases. Also ask for activities and workshops that improve their situation.
Last year, in Zaballa prison, as prison sources revealed to this newspaper, a terrorist He asked to be released from prison to see a dentist, when that center has a contracted specialist who provides this service. “These are mechanisms that allow them to enjoy a more comfortable prison situation,” indicated the sources consulted.
Pool
And if the Martutene penitentiary center has been modernized, Zaballa is one of the most avant-garde in all of Spain. Inaugurated in 2011, the Alava center has among its facilities a indoor swimming pool, pediment, football field, sports centerconference room, projection room, musical instrument room (with drums and guitars) and library.
Music room of Zaballa prison in Alava.
It has large sports (fronton, football field, sports center and even an indoor swimming pool) and recreational spaces (conference room, projection room, musical instrument room or library).
He Government of the Basque Country He has repeatedly reaffirmed since taking office that all prisoners are and will be treated equally. However, the testimonies of officials who share daily life with ETA detainees —independent and from different unions and with very different political ideas— They assure that there is preferential treatment, forcing prison regulations to hitherto unprecedented limits.
Political visits
Jurdan Martitegi, for example, has received constant visits, both public and private, from prison leaders and the regional government’s Ministry of Justice throughout this year. He is not the only one.
Last Christmas, a member of the Basque Parliament visited the former historic leader of ETA in Alava prison Juan Antonio Olarra Guridipseudonym Jokin. The meeting took place three days later the demonstration in favor of the release of prisoners of the terrorist gang in Bilbao. The dialogue is therefore constant.
Sources report that this grade progression occurs repeatedly without the established conditions having been previously met: “Completely abnormal things are allowed.”
The management of Martutene prison authorizes everything: “Fans, hair clippers, computers, films, radio cassettes. Everything they asked for was granted. “It’s a comedy.”
Indoor swimming pool at Zaballa prison in Alava.
ETA members peacefully spend their last days in prison —many of them without having repented of their crimes— while waiting for the arrival of the long-awaited third year. In the San Sebastian prison they even managed to create a group of classes CrossFit. They are taught by a member of ETA, and those whom the terrorists decide they can attend attend. Everything is done, those responsible lament, “through the back door”.
In Basque prisons, ETA members already move freely and normally. They have, thanks to those who run the centers, the best jobs in prisonsmanage the socio-cultural spaces or the sports center, but also the various workshops.
Some meet officials they have already met in other penitentiary centers in Spain in previous decades. Says another of these workers who pass him and greet him. “They see you and smile. Here they are allowed to do anything.”
Sports hall at Zaballa Prison in Alava.
