2003-03-11

Judge Juan del Olmo extends closure of Egunkaria
Spanish judge extends provisional closure for another six months. Egunkaria's workers promise 'a new journal'

Spanish Judge Juan del Olmo, from the Audiencia Nacional Court, decided on Monday evening to extend the provisional closure of Egunkaria. According to Del Olmo, the Egunkaria newspaper (and the related companies Egunkaria SA and Egunkaria Sortzen SL) will not be opened for at least another six months. In addition, their accounts will be blocked for the same period of time. Furthermore the six people sent to prison have still not been released(?).

The magistrate's decision did not come as a surprise to Egunkaria's workers. Egunkaria's spokeperson, Joan Mari Larrarte, stated that the extension of the provisional closure has effectively condemned Egunkaria to death.

"Considering how things have developed since February 20th and the previous experience with Egin (a Basque paper shut down by Judge Garzon in 1998 and closed ever since), we suspected that the doors would remain closed",

However, Larrarte announced that a new journal will be born from Egunkaria's ashes. "They have closed Egunkaria, but Egunkaria's principles are alive and well and we will follow them in order to create the newspaper that the Basque Country demands and is waiting for. We will be putting all our efforts into this new project", said Larrarte.