A few days ago, according to some media outlets, the spokesperson for EH Bildu in the Basque Parliament, Maddalen Iriarte, demanded a "comprehensive solution" for ETA prisoners to "be at home" and "for their release." These statements were made in the context of a mobilization promoted by the Sare Citizen Network in Bilbao, which demanded the transfer of ETA prisoners to Basque prisons.
In light of the statements attributed to the spokesperson of the political force of the abertzale left, I believe it is necessary to make some considerations. The first has to do with the undeniable fact that, constitutionally, custodial sentences must be aimed at the re-education and social reintegration of the convicted persons.
Therefore, analyzing each case and linking them to our penitentiary legislation, today as yesterday, there would be nothing to object to a demand for the transfer of prisoners to penitentiary centers located in the Basque Country if the aim pursued were the one I mentioned earlier, as, on the other hand, different governments of the PSOE and PP have carried out in the democratic era.
A second consideration has to do with the fact that, at the same time, the Spanish Constitution enshrines the obligation to comply with the judgments and other final resolutions of the judges and courts. Therefore, it is easily inferred from the above that the comprehensive solution advocated by the aforementioned spokesperson is already contemplated in Spanish legislation, both for the transfer and for the release of ETA prisoners.
However, from what I have seen and heard in the Senate since I accessed this Chamber representing the islands of Lanzarote and La Graciosa, with ETA defeated by the citizens and democracy, and it being evident that the young representatives of the abertzale formation have nothing to do with the murderers, I still sincerely believe that some, under the pretext of the total normalization of political life in Euskadi, intend to violate or circumvent the laws. Let me explain.
What is vindicated should be unacceptable not only for the legal reasons previously adduced, but for ethical and moral reasons because, even agreeing with a policy of forgiveness in the face of sincere repentance, I do not agree with a policy of oblivion that, when reading what Maddalen Iriarte stated, does not make us think that those who should have been at home this Christmas are the more than 854 people who lost their lives at the murderous hand of the terrorist group.
Fco. Manuel Fajardo Palarea, PSOE senator for Lanzarote and La Graciosa.
