The Lehendakari is in Court
Juan Jose Ibarretxe, the Basque prime minister (Lehendakari in the Basque language), has appeared in court in Bilbao this morning to defend himself against the charge of meeting with members of the Batasuna party in April last year. It is the first time that a Lehendakari has been indicted in this manner.
Batasuna is a Basque political party that has historically acted as the voice of the illegal separatist group ETA (which stands for Euskadi Ta Askatasuna, meaning Basque Homeland and Freedom). Batasuna itself was banned in Spain in 2003 for refusing to denounce the terrorist acts committed by ETA and for also having strong connections with the separatist group.
Ibarretxe, the leader of the PNV (el Partido Nacionalista Vasco), has always maintained the importance of talking with Batasuna even though he has openly condemned the activities of ETA.
Ibarretxe, the leader of the PNV (el Partido Nacionalista Vasco), has always maintained the importance of talking with Batasuna even though he has openly condemned the activities of ETA.In March 2006, ETA declared a permananet ceasfire in their fight for Basque independence, and a month later Ibarretxe met with representatives of Batasuna. ETA's ceasefire began to look precarious in November 2006, when the Spanish Government refused to give a number of concessions to ETA, such as granting ETA members immunity from prosecution for past acts of terrorism. Sadly, ETA's ceasefire did end on 30th December 2006 when a bomb was detonated at Madrid's Barajas airport, killing two people.
Already this week around 45,000 people marched in Bilbao to protest against the charges levied at the Lehendakari and no doubt Ibarretxe's case will polarise opinion in the Iberian Peninsula regarding the sensitive issue of ETA.
Already this week around 45,000 people marched in Bilbao to protest against the charges levied at the Lehendakari and no doubt Ibarretxe's case will polarise opinion in the Iberian Peninsula regarding the sensitive issue of ETA.
2 Comments:
Some nuances:
1) It is funny how you refer to the "illegal separatist group ETA" -not just once-. We could call it "terrorist group", as declared by Judges.
2) It is curious as well how you dont use the expression "terrorism" in the whole post. Just to get it clear, "Violent activities of ETA" (expression appearing twice in the post) means "Indiscriminate killing and bombing".
3) Not only ETA is a terrorist group, but Batasuna is considered by European Council as part of this terrorist group.
4) To understand the whole situation, you could mention that ETA kills a) members of armed forces, b) elected policital representatives, and c) ordinary citizens, including children and foreigners.
5) Second paragraph "bomb was detonated (...) resulted in two fatalities". We could put it this away "ETA killed two people".
Article updated.
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