Basque National Liberation Movement prisoners
Many people have been imprisoned, placed on remand, or otherwise kept in custody due to their illegal activity in support of the Basque National Liberation Movement.
Most individuals linked to the MLNV currently serving out their sentences in prisons of Spain, France and other countries were convicted for their involvement with Euskadi Ta Askatasuna at the moment of their arrest, and for other offences such as murder, attempted murder, participating in terrorism and kidnapping. Some were convicted only for being a member of ETA, while others were not members of ETA but have been imprisoned for collaborating with it, or have been convicted of other offences such as belonging to illegal organizations like Gestoras pro Amnistía or SEGI, belonging to or trying to rebuild banned political parties such as Askatasuna and Batasuna, participating in Kale borroka, or for the "public glorification of terrorism", an offence incorporated into the Spanish Criminal Code in 1995.
Many supporters of the Basque nationalist left consider ETA and MLNV convicts currently in Spanish and French prisons to be political prisoners, the majority of whom are represented by the Basque Political Prisoners Collective. Some organizations like Etxerat have spent many years campaigning for the rights of Basque prisoners, with a special focus on bringing dispersed prisoners back to the Basque Country and the release of seriously ill prisoners.
Since the late 1960s tens of thousands of MLNV activists have been detained, and several thousands of those imprisoned. Up until 2003 an estimated 30,000 activists had been arrested, 8,172 of whom were accused of being members of ETA, out of which 4,770 were convicted of a criminal offence and served a prison sentence. A notable convicted MLNV leader is former ETA-member Arnaldo Otegi, who was released in 2016 after six year in prisons for attempting to re-establish the outlawed party Batasuna, despite having received conviction in an unfair trial. In addition, Otegi had been previously convicted of a number of offences including kidnapping, glorifying terrorism, and being an ETA member.
History
The number of prisoners related to the Basque National Liberation Movement has varied over the years as can be seen in the following bar chart. It begins in 1978, after the amnesty of 1977, which made it illegal to bring to trial any Franco era crime, and also gave amnesty to all prisoners who had committed crimes with a political root during Franco's dictatorship and the Spanish transition to democracy.The data for the bar chart comes from Etxerat, the association of family members of these prisoners, and the EPPK. However, some prisoners choose not to be part of Etxerat, or have been expelled, and so the number of Basque National Liberation Movement prisoners is approximately 7% more than these figures. For example, in 2005 Etxerat reported 507 prisoners were held in Spanish prisons, while the Spanish prison service stated that there were 544 related to ETA.
For consistency the Etxerat figures have been used in the bar chart.
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bar:2004 at:719 fontsize:S text: 719 shift:
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Current situation
According to Etxerat, as of December 2024 there were 92 people imprisoned due their activities in support of ETA or organizations linked to ETA. 88 were imprisoned in Spain and 4 in France. 13 were women. 30 additional people are under house arrest.Dispersal policy
In 1989 the Spanish government began a policy of dispersal of Basque prisoners throughout Spain. The purpose was to restrict communication between ETA and its prisoners and to eventually reintegrate them into society. At the beginning some prisoners were even sent to North Africa and the Canary Islands, but during ETA's ceasefire in the late 1990s those prisoners were brought back to the mainland, and even after the ceasefire ended they were kept there. Several times prisoners have been brought nearer to the Basque Country as a response to an ETA ceasefire. For example, in September 1999, 105 prisoners were sent to prisons nearer the Basque Country in response to ETA maintaining its ceasefire for over a year. However, prisoners have also been sent further away in response to ETA violence.The policy has been maintained over the years, generally sending the more dangerous or high ranking individuals to prisons furthest from the Basque Country. 2014 marked the 25th anniversary of this policy, which has been hailed as a great success by the Spanish government, especially in the light of the 2011 declaration by ETA of a permanent ceasefire. France has taken a similar approach, spreading the prisoners throughout the French prison system.
The families of the prisoners view this policy as punishing them, as they are forced to travel large distances to visit their imprisoned relatives. They argue that the distances they need to travel cause stress, is financially draining, and that every year there are accidents involving family members while traveling to or from prisons. There have been many demonstrations calling for all these prisoners to be moved to prisons in the Basque Country. Currently there is a highly publicised campaign calling for this. Its slogan is "Euskal presoak- Euskal Herrira". It has widespread support within the Basque Country. Ill prisoners also regularly ask to be transferred to prisons in the Basque country.
Most of the main political parties in Spain reject this idea, the exception being Podemos which wants to see an end to the dispersal policy. Mariano Rajoy, the Prime Minister of Spain, said in 2011 that he would not consider ending the policy until ETA declares its disbandment. Interior minister Jorge Fernández Díaz confirmed the possibility of changing the dispersal policy conditioned on ETA's dissolution. In 2017 this was re-emphasized by the Interior minister Juan Ignacio Zoido who stated that the Spanish government would not end dispersion while ETA still exists. By contrast, the European Parliament condemned on 5 October 2017 dispersal policies applied within Europe for their damaging effect on prisoners' family life, as well as urging member states to revise the sentences of seriously ill prisoners on humanitarian grounds; the act, passed by a large majority, was opposed by the Spanish Conservatives, Ciudadanos, and UPyD.
However, in May 2019, the European Tribunal for Human Rights ruled against the appeal filed in 2016 by prisoner Gorka Fraile against his dispersal 700 km away from his family while undergoing cancer treatment; the tribunal stated that the dispersal policy is justified and sanctioned by Spanish law and interference with his family life would be justified by a higher end, i.e. "the prevention of disorder and crime and the protection of the rights and liberties of others", concluding next that Spanish Justice did not breach his fundamental rights. In March 2018, Etxerat reported the death of prisoner Xabier Rey in a Cadiz prison cell, 1050 km away from home, who was held 1st degree, i.e. incommunicado. The relatives' support association condemned the harsh conditions of his detention. It was followed by a rally in Pamplona mourning and denouncing his death attended by thousands.
Following ETA's disbandment , a wide number of jurists consulted in Spain advocated for an end to the dispersal policy in May 2018; however, at that point, the Spanish government refused to change its policy on the matter. The same month that year, UPN, a regional party of Navarre, warned it would not endorse the Spanish government's national budget if it did not strongly commit to the dispersal policies of Basque prisoners. The topic of ETA prisoners was raised by Pablo Casado before and after his election in July 2018 as head of the Popular Party. The party used the victims of terrorism as a way of opposing the incoming Spanish premier Pedro Sanchez, PSOE, now in office, with Casado declaring they would "not put up with any prison transfer close home of ETA prisoners", and would not either accept "meddling with the memory of the victims"; the party secretary Javier Maroto stated that the party would rally ETA victims out to the streets to protest any attempt to transfer these prisoners close to the Basque Country.