The Association of Victims of Terrorism (AVT) denounced Monday that the Government of the Basque Country has granted two additional third diplomas to ETA prisoners Andoni Otegi and Alicia Sáez de la Cuesta who, like the five others it authorized since last September, the prosecutor responsible for monitoring prisons at the National Court has changed; they were not the subject of an appeal by the prosecution.
In a press release, they specify that in the case of Otegi, this is the second semi-freedom granted to him, since the first was revoked by the National Court and they emphasize that “he has not not respected three quarters of the punishment required by law (completed 16 of the required 22.5 years in Spain)” to progress in the level. Regarding Sáez de la Cuesta, it is reported that he was sentenced to “23.5 years out of 30”.
“At AVT, we have observed with concern the exponential growth of these decisions since last September, since the Basque Government has already granted seven grade advancements in just two months. What we would like to emphasize is that none of these seven progressions have been appealed by the public prosecutor, in fact: given that the person currently responsible for these decisions is in office , no progression has been appealed,” they point out.
They refer to the prosecutor of the National Court Carlos García Berro, who took charge of coordinating prison surveillance while waiting for the vacancy left by Carlos Bautista, who became a lawyer in the private sector, to be resolved. According to tax sources consulted by ABC, this situation is provisional, while waiting to decide how to fill the vacant positions now available to the Prosecutor’s Office of this body, competent for terrorism offenses, between retirements and departures.
“If we add to the exponential growth of third degrees that there will no longer be any recourse, the result that we fear is that in a few months all ETA detainees will already benefit from semi-freedom” , affirms the Association of Victims of Terrorism, which estimates the grade 87. progressions granted to 69 ETA detainees – some have progressed up to three times after previous judicial revocations – since the Basque Country has jurisdiction over the prisons.
“We are more alone than ever”
They demand that both the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights of the Basque Government and the Prosecutor’s Office of the National Court “return to a rigorous interpretation of prison legislation which does not favor the release of ETA members imprisoned before ‘they do not reach their maximum limits’. to serve their sentence.
They add “concern for the increase in the granting rate of conditional releases by the Prison Surveillance Judge of the National Court. They highlight in particular four conditional releases granted in October and many others of which they say they are aware “are being managed”.
“Victims of terrorism have always had confidence in the rule of law to provide justice for their murdered loved ones, and even if there are decisions that are difficult for us to understand, if they are legal, we accept them with resignation. What we ask is that legislation and prison policy do not become the back door of criminal law and do not empty the sentences handed down of their content”, they add, to regret “the privileges of the executioners” towards those who must assist during their detention. We are “trying to erase them from the map”. “The big difference is that now we don’t even have the support of the prosecution. “We are more alone than ever,” say the victims.
