Daniel Porteropresident of the Dignity and Justice association and son of Luis Portermurdered by the terrorist group ETA in Granada in 2000, expressed his “strong disagreement” with the granting of the third degree to Harriet Iragui Gurruchagawho was condemned both for this act and for those of José María Martin Carpenain Málaga, and Antonio Muñoz Cariñanosin Seville.
“These types of benefits are granted at discretion,” Portero emphasized in statements to ABC. In fact, he pointed out that Iragui himself “had already obtained a second degree which was a hidden third degreewith the difference that on weekends, he slept in prison.
He held the government of the Basque Country, which has transferred powers since 2021, responsible for this situation, and above all criticized the PSOE, which is part of it and which in fact heads the Ministry of Justice, for having entered “in the game of the PNV.” and Bildu, which is particularly serious if we consider that ETA also assassinated socialists. The Minister of Justice is the socialist Mary Jesus Saint Joseph.
“This is what also hurts my soul” while the socialists “especially in the Basque Country have suffered a lot” and “they have had victims and it seems incredible that I bowed for a handful of blood votes of Bildu to support the president of the current government,” added Portero.
For Portero, it is clear that “the law is not applied” and this makes him angry with the Basque government but also with the prosecutors. “It’s a shame to see how people who did the same job as my father they are sitting in the fight against ETA, while half of its assassinations remain unsolved”, he underlined.
Concretely, what, in his opinion, was violated today is article 72.6 of the General Prison Law. He explained that the ETA member, who now benefits from an allowance, did not ratify “before any court” that he was asking for forgiveness, which “is OBLIGATORY if you aspire to a third degree.
He recalled that Igor Solana, a member of the commando who murdered his father, had written a letter in which “without naming parents or widows, but in a very generic way”, he asked for forgiveness, which he did not was neither confirmed nor denied subsequently. anyone. “If he ratifies what he put in the letter, I would not have objected up to this third degree, but he did not do it,” he insisted.
In addition, he pointed out that Solana specified in this letter that the one who gave orders to the command was Francisco. Javier García Gaztelu, ‘Txapote’who, however, is not being prosecuted for this crime. Portero filed a complaint after learning of this information and will now appeal to the third degree penitentiary surveillance judge against Iragui “because it can be annulled.”
Barely three months after taking responsibility for the Prison Administration, the Basque Socialist Party (PSE) approved, on the proposal of the Prison Treatment Commission, the third degree for ETA prisoners Harriet Iragui and Luis Mariñelarena. The first was a member of the Andalusia Command and was sentenced to more than a hundred years in prison for the assassinations of Luis Portero, José María Martín Carpena and Antonio Muñoz Cariñanos. Mariñelarena was convicted for the death of socialist leader Fernando Buesa.
Marlaska approves the permit
In this sense, the Minister of the Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, He stressed yesterday that the granting of the third degree to Harriet Iragui Gurruchaga is “endorsed by the judicial authority”. Marlaska explained that he does not know the content of the aforementioned resolution, but emphasized that this type of writing is issued within “parameters of strict compliance with the law.”
For her part, the Minister of Finance and spokesperson for the Government of the Junta de Andalucía, Caroline Spain, He assured yesterday that this measure is part of the policy of “prisoners by budget”, as “this has already happened in 2021”. Spain demanded “justice and dignity” for victims of ETA terrorism.
