Fernando Grande Marlaska affirms that the decision of the Basque Government to release the two ETA assassins by granting them the third degree of imprisonment is “approved by the judicial authority”.
The Minister of the Interior spoke this way this Wednesday about the decision approved by the Basque Minister of Justice, the socialist Mary Jesus Saint Josephto free ETA members Harriet Iragi Gurrutxaga And Luis Mariñelarena Garciandia. However, no judge has made a decision in either case.
At the central Police Day event celebrated in Seville, Marlaska said that writings on the release of prisoners are dictated by “parameters of strict compliance with the law.”
The minister’s comments sparked outrage from ETA victims and strong criticism from the opposition. The decision to grant a third diploma to any prisoner comes from the prison treatment commissions. In the case of the two ETA members, these are the Basque Prison Treatment Commissions, whose competence was transferred to this autonomous community precisely by Marlaska himself.
The treatment commission submitted reports favorable to the release of the two ETA members to the Department of Justice of the Basque Government, and it was the head of the portfolio who made the decision to release them.
After protests from victims, sources of the Ministry of the Interior justified that to grant the third diploma, a judicial review is required “by action or omission”. They argue that the prosecutor, knowing the decision of the treatment commission and the competent authority, assesses whether or not to appeal. If he does so, the detainee is not released until the Central Prison Supervision Court of the National Court resolves the case.
However, as reliable judicial sources confirm to EL ESPAÑOL, no judge intervenes in the process if there is no appeal against the decision to grant freedom to a prisoner. Therefore, in the case of the two terrorists, there was no judicial decision, contrary to what Marlaska claims.
“An obvious payment”
The two members of ETA who benefited from the decision of the Basque Government are Harriet Iragi Gurrutxaga And Luis Mariñelarena Garciandia. The first was sentenced to a total of 128 years in prison for the murders ofI PP Advisor in Malaga José María Martin Carpenaof the prosecutor Luis Porter and the military doctor Antonio Muñoz Cariñanos. The second was found guilty of having participated in the car bomb attack which cost the life of the socialist politician. Fernando Buesa and his escort Jorge Diez Elorza. None have publicly repented of their crimes.
The decision to grant the third diploma to both is examined by the Popular Party as “an obvious payment” from the government to Bildu to “retain their votes in Congress”.
According to official PP sources, this “disguised pact” to which its leader, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, referred means that ETA prisoners will be released “early” in exchange for Batasuna’s heir party “continuing to be Pedro Sánchez’s most loyal partner in Congress.
The Popular Party, for the moment, does not plan to present a motion of disapproval against Marlaska, given that “He is the most disapproved minister of democracy and he has not moved a bit”. However, from the parliamentary group in Congress, other sources confirmed to this newspaper that they would register this Thursday a request for an urgent appearance by the Minister of the Interior.
“Let him bring to the House the judicial resolution he claims to have,” said this spokesperson, “which supports the release of two bloodthirsty terrorists.” The request for explanations from Marlaska will be made knowing that “there was no intervention by any judge”, because this is stipulated by the general penitentiary law.
You lie like a scoundrel… It’s false. The judge did not endorse anything… it is a decision of the PSOE, of your advisor in the Basque Country. Sold for blood votes! Don’t use my father!
-Daniel Portero (@daniel_portero) October 2, 2024
The popular parties will also present written questions to the government to explain whether, in fact, “it is what it seems”.
80 third degrees
After hearing the news of the liberation, the victims of ETA expressed their “total disappointment” with the decision of the Basque Government. “It’s a decision that doesn’t surprise us. It is added to the 80 third diplomas awarded by the Basque Government since the powers were transferred to them”, explains Maite Araluce, president of the Association of Victims of Terrorism (AVT).
Covite, for its part, will file a complaint with the public prosecutor’s office National court that “it appeals to these last two thirds degrees” so that they can be reversed, given that it is the only institution which “can and must do so in the interest of the victims’ right to justice”.
This association considers that “neither of the two members of ETA meets the fundamental requirements required by law to progress in rank, namely repentance for their crimes” and “collaboration with Justice”.
For example, a button: the two prisoners “are permanently displayed on the left abertzale in their demonstrations to demand their release, which proves that they do not repent.
The news of the third degree of these two ETA members also comes less than a week after the Minister of Justice herself promised in the Basque Parliament that she would promote change in the system. prison policy with ETA prisoners.
María Jesús San José announced on September 25 that “historical rigor” would be included among the axes of her new prison policy. “Thirteen years after making them stop killing, we are not going to grant them this differentiated status,” she declared.
