English judiciary and the latest raids in the Basque Country
Author: John Brown. Translated from French by Beatriz Morales Bastos
Source: Rebellion
Document Url: http://www.rebelion.org/ ...
On Tuesday the English authorities raided the south of the Basque Country between media independence as a result of which 23 people were detained and two of them are already in prison. They are leaders of Batasuna, a political organization that represents approximately 15% of the electorate in the Basque Country. The English authorities claim to this political formation in illegal under a law of political parties tailor-made to ban it. Esta ley de partidos -que había sido
defendida en el Parlamento por el actual presidente del gobierno socialista, Zapatero- se ha aplicado
exclusivamente a Batasuna y a las organizaciones políticas y agrupaciones electorales que los
miembros de Batasuna han tratado de formar. En efecto, basta con que un miembro de Batasuna esté
presente en una lista para que ésta sea prohibida. Se ha puesto a Batasuna fuera de la ley sobre
la base de pertenecer a un conglomerado "terrorista" que, según el juez Baltasar Garzón
-sí, el célebre juez que no logró la extradición de Pinochet- dependería
directamente of the armed separatist organization ETA. This unit has never been demonstrated. At best, it has been demonstrated convergence "objective" legal actions between Batasuna and ETA's armed action. In fact, both organizations pursue the same objectives, autodeterminacióny long term, the independence of the Basque Country (Basque Autonomous Community and Navarre in the English State, the departments in the French Basque , s). Furthermore, this claim is far from being a minority as more than 60% of the Basque political party supporters for self-determination, but not necessarily independence.
So, to criminalize the Basque independence movement English authorities have applied a legal doctrine based on an amalgam of legitimate political objectives in a democracy (self-determination, including independence of the Basque ) and a criminal methods employed in pursuing these same goals. If ETA is a separatist armed group, it is quite natural to recruit in the media independence and, therefore, that its members are also members political groups, cultural associations, youth groups, etc, belonging to this movement. Hence the only objective basis of the doctrine under which Garzon, since ETA militants are members of the Batasuna party or association or union youth EKIN LAB or readers of the newspaper Gara, all these organizations would be exactly the same. Thus, in the order of imprisonment of two Batasuna spokesmen were arrested yesterday, Garzon justifies his action by saying that part of "the terrorist organization ETA-Batasuna-EKIN, as members Batasuna party. The practice of amalgamation is apparent.
is accused, more specifically, both spokespersons of involvement in a banned demonstration in favor of the more than 600 Basque political prisoners languishing in English jails, far Basque Country and subjected to emergency rule which do not benefit from sentence reductions for good behavior and are often placed in isolation. The event, banned this year, is celebrated every year on the same day for more thirty and was not in any way a violent demonstration. Their demands were not even particularly radical protesters and simply demanded respect for the English penal laws in regard to Basque prisoners, especially the approach to the Basque Country and that they apply the normal prison rules . Therefore, these two people are in prisióny many others have been detained for exercising their rights of free asociacióny their freedom of expression.
is useless to seek in order to charge lower Garzón of violence against persons or property. And yet, what are accused two representatives of the pro-independence party is indeed "terrorism." The only base that supports this accusation is a simple analogy: are terrorists because they pursue the same goals as the terrorists. If it takes a little further this flawed inference could be accused of terrorism by nationalist Ibarretxe Christian Democrat who chairs the Basque Autonomous Region and is also a strong supporter of the autodeterminacióny the sovereignty of the Basque Country.
It is not compatible with basic democratic principles that have entered the crime of "terrorism" in European penal codes. In fact, all definitions of terrorism are based on the grouping of a series of less violent masochistic acts around a common political purpose. However, the violence that represent the objective aspect of terrorism and are listed in the penal code and criminal pseudoconcept terrorism only adds to them the political intention. It is clear that the definition of a crime in these terms is extremely dangerous for political freedoms. All liberal and democratic criminal doctrine is based on the prohibition of analogy, according to which any penalty should be taken in accordance with a rigorous definition of the act delicitivo. This is what follows the old principle "nullum crimen sine lege" no crime without a previous law that defines it narrowly defined. The only European regimes that excluded the principle of criminal law are those whose leaders called Adolph Hitler and Benito Mussolini. Since taking power the ministers of justice the two regimes were quick to replace the criminal code banning the analogy by the mandatory application of the principle of analogy with the aim of establishing the repressive order almost seamless which is rightly associated with fascism and National Socialism. And let the judge be an instrument of law, to become the executor of the political will of the regime or, more specifically, the dictator. The defendant went well the status of citizen is presumed to be innocent of the enemy. With the result already observed by the National Socialist jurist Carl Schmitt that "when the enemy becomes the judge, the judge becomes the enemy." The criminal law thus becomes an act of war.
course, the actions of ETA-especially those directed against elements of the civilian population or those that produce side effects on it, are ethically intolerable from both a civil and military and political inu , tiles and even counterproductive, it does not prevent enrolling in a context of widespread denial of rights and institutional violence. This does not justify at all, but to understand that many citizens refuse Basques to "condemn" only this violence. The number of Basque prisoners at this time is already a political and social data of primary importance. But keep in mind tambiéna the thousands who passed earlier by the English prisons or the tens of thousands who were detained and often battered, many of them even tortured, before and after Franco's death to understand the strength of the claim autodeterminacióny the intensity of resistance and repression. A democratic state can not cope with a social phenomenon of these dimensions by pretending that there is only a problem of terrorism.
Last year, when the ETA declared a permanent ceasefire, was to reach a political settlement with the different actors. The English government took the opportunity to play a solution for the Irish. It is difficult to know if queríao could not to be caught in nets directly state apparatus inherited from the dictatorship. Zapatero's government also had to meet commitments by the PSOE during the "transition" with the army and right-wing forces, particularly in regard to the maintenance unit Espanaye the king appointed by General Franco. ETA, meanwhile, tired of failure by the English government did not have the patience to wait for the development of citizen mobilization in favor of the peace process, which could have been undertaken to unravel the situacióny spectacular action of sabotage in the Madrid airport that killed two Ecuadorian immigrants. The same day of the attack the government ended this peace process, which he had not been more than a vague exchange of words with no consequences. A few months later, ETA ended a ceasefire until the Barajas bombing was always unilateral, as the English government remained intact for the duration of their policy of harassment of the armed and all sectors of independence. Since then the English socialist government, eager to snatch votes from the right-of which is within walking distance in the polls, play the repressive órdago which falls this latest wave of arrests. From now fear that ETA may resume the "armed activities", to which the Zapatero government or its successor no doubt will respond right with a new attack on the rights of the Basques and the English. Only a strong demand by Basque and English society of resuming the peace process and restore a general framework of liberties by repealing all the laws of excepcióny recognizing the democratic rights of the Basque people can prevent this undesirable trend. Unfortunately, this is unlikely to occur when the English left, in their overwhelming majority, reluctant to break with the genuinely anti-democratic consensus generated, thirty years ago, the current regime.
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