SPAIN GOV'T REVEALS CONSERVATIVES FREED 295 ETA MEMBERS BEFORE SENTENCES WERE SERVED
FIGURES SHOW TOP PP LEADERS CURRENTLY ATTACKING PSOE FOR FREEING ONE ETA MEMBER SYSTEMATICALLY CONCEALED THEIR EXCARCERATION POLICY
7 March 2007

Spain's ruling socialist party (PSOE) has published information showing that the conservative Partido Popular (PP), currently in the opposition, freed 295 ETA convicts before their sentences were completed, during 8 years in power. The move comes as Popular leaders, attacking the PSOE government on a daily basis, has planned a massive demonstration for Saturday to accuse the government of caving to terrorism for freeing De Juana Chaos to avoid his hunger strike ending in death.

De Juana's original sentence had already been served, but the current government pushed to extend his sentence after he published editorials from prison which were seen as inciting further conflict. The PP reportedly concealed its excarceration policy from the public, in an apparent attempt to reap the benefits of negotiation with ETA while appearing to be aggressively hard-line in the refusal to negotiate.

According to La Vanguardia newspaper: "54 etarras tenían condena que oscilaba entre los 30 y 327 años de prisión, todos liberados después de cumplir penas entre los 15 y 20 años... 250 tenían penas inferiores a los 30 años y salieron a la calle con cumplimientos entre los seis meses y los catorce años".

That is, "54 ETA members [freed by the PP governments] had sentences ranging from 30 to 327 years in prison, each of them freed after serving only 15 to 20 years... 250 had sentences under 30 years and were freed after terms ranging from 6 months to 14 years".

During the 8 years of PP rule, Mariano Rajoy, current party leader, then serving as interior minister, himself freed 55 ETA convicts before their terms were up. Ángel Acebes, one of the highest ranking PP officials to mislead the public about the Madrid bombings in the days before the 2004 elections, self-styled as a rabid anti-terrorist, freed 47 while interior minister.

What's more, a comuniqué from the socialist party's parliamentary coalition (GPS) leader also shows that the PP gave favorable treatment to De Juana himself, first moving him from an African outpost to a prison on the Iberian peninsula, only to then reduce De Juana's sentence by no less than 500 days, even after he was discovered celebrating from his cell in a Melilla prison the murder of a UPN councilor.

The prime minister José Luís Rodríguez Zapatero has said it was necessary to reveal the information to demonstrate the hypocrisy of the current PP attacks. Manipulation by the PP of the terrorism issue has long been a polemic in Spanish politics. In 2004, the then ruling Popular Party was ousted after it became apparent they had sought to mislead the public about the 11 March attacks in Madrid for their own political gain. [s]

• La Vanguardia: "El PSOE recuerda que los Gobiernos del PP excarcelaron a 295 etarras antes de que cumpliesen sus condenas"

IMPRISONED ETA FIGURE DE JUANA CHAOS REPORTED NEAR DEATH
PHYSICIANS TREATING PRISONER ON HUNGER STRIKE HAVE REMOVED FEEDING TUBE, PROMPTING REPORTS THE CONVICTED TERRORIST WILL SOON DIE
25 February 2007

Spain's Basque region, known there as Euskal Herria or Euskadi, faces new tensions as supporters of hunger-striking convict say government has failed to push for lasting peace, conservative victims' families group pressures government to cease all negotiation with ETA or its banned political wing Batasuna. Demonstrations turned violent in Bilbao as demonstrators demanded a solution to the crisis.

The Guardian newspaper reports "Doctors treating the emaciated body of Inaki de Juana Chaos in a secure unit in a hospital in Madrid said his feeding tube had been removed to allow him to continue his hunger strike. De Juana, who has served a 20-year sentence for leading Eta's 'Madrid Commando' unit, which killed 25 people during the Eighties, has been on hunger strike since November." [Full Story]