On 20th of February the Basque newspaper Euskaldunon Egunkaria was shut down by the Spanish Guardia Civil after 13 years of existence. As well as the closure of the only remaining Basque-language daily newspaper, 10 people working with Egunkaria were also arrested by the Guardia Civil under the accusation of supporting ETA, the basque armed group seeking independencie for teh Baque Country. Soon after, on the 25th of February, the former director of the newspaper was hospitalised after his release, and has since made allegations of torture as well as denouncing this repression as an attack to freedom of expression. His release, and that of other Egunkaria journalists was only possible after having paid bails of 12 to 30,000 Euro.
This last chapter of criminalisation in the Basque Country by Spanish authorities, has been met with a huge international outcry for a proper investigation of the police actions and for a detailed examination of the actions of the Spanish authorities. A campaign to denounce the closing of Egunkaria has started. At the same time Amnesty International is calling for a prompt and thorough judicial investigation. In Britain, mainstream media has also reported the alleged tortures suffered by the Egunkaria journalists arrested [ Independent report] [Report by Basque anti-torture committe]
A support demonstration took place London on Saturday 22nd February, joined by Bristol activists. Other demonstrations and protests were also held all over the Basque Country on Saturday 22 to protest against the closure of Egunkaria newspaper and for the freedom of expression. These included: Irun, San Sebastian [see video] and Bilbao [see videos 1 | 2]
For more information see:
Feature on IMC-Global | IMC-Euskal Herria | Euskalinfo
