The Victims of Terrorism Association (AVT) has denounced this Monday that the Government of the Basque Country has granted another two third degrees to ETA prisoners Andoni Otegi and Alicia Sáez de la Cuesta who, like the other five it has authorized since last In September, the prosecutor in charge of prison surveillance in the National Court changed; they have not been appealed by the Prosecutor’s Office.
In a statement, they detail that in the case of Otegi, this is the second semi-freedom that has been granted to him, since the first was revoked by the National Court and they emphasize that “he has not complied with three quarters of the sentence required by the law (has completed 16 of the required 22.5 years in Spain)» to progress through the grade. Regarding Sáez de la Cuesta, they report that he has been sentenced to “23.5 years of the 30 set.”
«At the AVT we observe with concern the exponential growth of these decisions since last September, since the Basque Government has already granted seven grade progressions in just two months. Something that we would like to highlight is that none of these seven progressions has been appealed by the Public Prosecutor’s Office, in fact: since the person currently responsible for these decisions holds office, no progression has been appealed,” they point out.
They refer to the prosecutor of the National Court Carlos García Berro, who took charge of coordinating prison surveillance while the position left vacant by Carlos Bautista, who has moved to law in the private sector, is resolved. According to the tax sources consulted by ABC, this situation is provisional, while it is decided how to fill the vacancies that the Prosecutor’s Office of this body, the one competent for terrorism crimes, now has between retirements and departures.
“If we add to the exponential growth of third degrees that none will be resorted to, the result we fear is that in a few months all ETA prisoners will already enjoy semi-freedom,” says the Victims of Terrorism Association, which estimates 87 grade progressions granted to 69 ETA prisoners – some have progressed up to three times after previous court revocations – since the Basque Country has jurisdiction over prisons.
“We are more alone than ever”
They demand that both the Department of Justice and Human Rights of the Basque Government and the Prosecutor’s Office of the National Court “return to a rigorous interpretation of penitentiary legislation that does not favor the release of imprisoned ETA members.” before they meet their maximum limits of serving their sentences.
They add “concern for the increasing rate of parole grants by the Penitentiary Surveillance Judge of the National Court. Specifically, they point out four conditional releases granted in the month of October and many others that they say they are aware of “are being managed.”
«Victims of terrorism have always trusted in the rule of law to do justice to our murdered loved ones, and although there are decisions that are difficult for us to understand, if they are legal, we accept them with resignation. What we do ask is that legislation and penitentiary policy do not become the back door of criminal law and empty the sentences set in sentences of their content,” they add, to regret “the privileges of the executioners” to those who have to attend while They are “attempted to be erased from the map.” «The big difference is that now we no longer even have the support of the Prosecutor’s Office. “We are more alone than ever,” say the victims.
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