“The functions and services of the State Administration regarding the execution of State legislation in penitentiary matters are transferred to the Autonomous Community of the Basque Country.” The order by which the government of Pedro Sánchez transferred the prison powers to the Basque Governmentthen governed by the PNV, the June 29, 2021 in the Official State Gazette, and came into force the next day. The transfer of skills was completed, after a few months of transition, on October 1st. The decision to move on to third year to a member of ETA, except in the case of internal prisoners in Navarre, is the entire responsibility of the Basque Prison Administration.
Since then, the Basque Government has already granted a total of 82 third degrees to the prisoners of the ETA terrorist group who benefited 68 prisonerswhenever in 15 cases There were revocations by the National Court and they were again granted. Among them, the AN revoked 9 and rejected 6. It should be noted that the Basque Government has granted the third diploma to ETA up to 3 times. Juan Carlos Subijana Izquierdosentenced to 28 years in prison for murder. The National Court has revoked it each time it has been granted.
Of these 82 third diplomas, 80 were issued by the PNV alone. The last two, which benefit Luis Mariñelarena Garciandia And Harriet Iragi Gurrutxagaboth guilty of blood crimes and who have not shown repentance, were granted by the PNV-PSE coalition, the PSE already having powers in matters of justice and an advisor at its head: the socialist Maria Jesus San José.
The high number of third degrees contrasts with those awarded before the transfer of powers, when they fell to the Interior Ministry’s prison institutions. According to the report from the Prison Policy Observatory of the Association of Victims of Terrorism (AVT), from October 2018 to October 2021 were 30 the third diplomas issued by the central government, only two of which were revoked. However, in April this year, penitentiary institutions granted the third diploma to Aurken Sola Campillosince he was serving his sentence in Pamplona (Navarra) and not in the Basque Country.
It should also be noted that from October 13, 2018 to August 31, 2022, 263 transfers of ETA members to prisons bordering the Basque Country were approved, “and some, to the Basque Country and Navarre”, according to the AVT. Subsequently, between August 2022 and April 2023, 119 people moved to the Basque Country or Navarra. In total, 382 transfers affected 204 ETA members. Among them, 177 were admitted to prisons the Basque Country and 21 in Navarre. Among them, 99 committed blood crimes, with 303 victims in 219 terrorist attacks.
incessant drops
Thus, from 2021 to today, first with the PNV and now with the PNV-PSE, the Basque Government has issued 82 third diplomas, in incessant trickles. In April 2022, it granted 7, including that of Joseba Arregi Erostarbé, ‘Fiti‘, who was appealed to the National Court and had to return to prison. His longest sentence was 2,354 years in prison for the attack on Civil Guard barracks in Zaragozacommitted in December 1987 and during which 11 people were murdered, including 5 girls.
It should be noted that ‘Fiti’ was placed released September 30 after spending 32 years in prison and completing the maximum service limit for the sentences. He never showed regret.
Between April and May 2022, they awarded six additional third degrees to ETA members, such as Aitor Esnaola Dorronsoro or Iñaki Bilbao. His progress towards provisional release was revoked by the National Court, like two others granted in the same period. From June to Augustthe Basque Government has granted 11 othersthree of which were revoked. From October to November was 8 third degrees moreover, of which the AN revoked two others.
In 2023 received a total of 29 Progress towards obtaining parole. The National Court granted the dismissal of six of them. In 2024, it granted 21, including the last two, to the assassins of the socialist party Fernando Buesa and his escort Jorge Diez Elorza in the year 2000 and Luis Porter, José María Martin CarpenaAnd Antonio Emilio Muñoz Cariñanos. Neither Luis Mariñelarena Garciandía, sentenced to a century in prison, nor Harriet Iragi Gurrutxaga, sentenced to 128 years, have shown remorse for their actions, a sine qua non condition for moving to the third degree.
This is why Covite has already announced that will ask the prosecutor’s office of the National Court the revocation of the provisional freedom of the two, approved on this occasion and for the first time by a department which depends on the Socialist Party of Euskadi. “No one expects from me special treatment for ETA prisoners,” the Minister of Justice of the Basque Government declared in Parliament less than a week ago.
