News

Four members of the banned newspaper EGIN re-arrested [03/05/2009]

Euskal PEN/Basque PEN is extremely concerned about the recents arrests of the former editor in the daily newspaper EGIN (closed without trial by Spain in 1997) Jabier Salutregi and three other ex members of its staff (Iñaki Zapiain, Xabi Otero and Jose Luis Elkoro). The four men arrested recently were the only ones that had been freed of the twelve persons condemned for their work in EGIN. Other journalists and workers in EGIN, like Patxo Murga, Isidro Murga, Pablo Gorostiaga, Jesus Mari Zalakain, Carlos Trenor, Manuel Intxauspe, Xabier Alegria, Maite Mendiburu and Teresa Toda (Member of Board of Basque PEN) have been in prison for more than 16 months, some of them serving an absolutely unjustified jail sentence of 24 years.

The recent arrests come after the appeal of this case, in which all observers agreed on the disproportion of the condemns and everyone expects a reduce. Basque PEN wants to denounce these arrests, as it has done with all the attacks to freedom of speech in the Basque Country. EGIN should have never been closed, it was a brutal attack to thousands of readers of that daily newspaper that were left without this option. Instead of correcting past mistakes, Spanish authorities deepened on it forcing all the accused to be on trial daily for more than one year (2006-2007), 400 kilometres away from their homes and jobs, and condemning journalists and workers of EGIN without evidences, simply basing in the theory that all is ETA.

After the appeal, the Spanish High Court will issue a new sentence in the coming days. The re-arrests make us fear the condemns will remain (if perhaps lightly reduced), but want to be confident and ask once again the acquittal and release of all members of EGIN after so many years of injustice./p>

PICTURE. Jabier Salutregi, former director of the newspaper EGIN.