Once the Constitutional Court’s ruling on the ‘Bateragune case’ and its decision to protect Arnaldo Otegi and the rest of the convicts was known this Wednesday, the nationalist left opted to temper its reaction and wait, beyond brief messages on the networks. . 24 hours after that statement, in favor of not repeating the trial, Otegi has finally taken the floor to express himself harshly about this case, which he has linked to “lawfare” and with two objectives: “The State did not want the ETA’s armed violence would disappear from the political equation of this country and, in addition, he wanted to neutralize the political potential of the independence movement.”
The general coordinator of EH Bildu has been accompanied in his appearance by Rafa Diez, Miren Zabaleta and Arkaitz Rodriguez, three of the other four convicted – Sonia Jacinto has not been able to attend. Otegi has spoken on behalf of all of them to remember that it was the European Court of Human Rights that ruled, in 2018, that they had not had a fair trial, which ultimately led to the ruling of the Constitutional Court, despite the attempt of the Supreme Court to repeat that trial.
From there, Otegi has expressed himself briefly, although very forcefully, regarding the known as ‘Bateragune case’, which led them to remain in prison for more than six years for trying to rebuild the outlawed Batasuna, according to the initial sentence. .
Otegi has noted that “the deep state” had “clear objectives” through the Bateragune case. “The State did not want ETA’s armed violence to disappear from the political equation of this country, and that is why it tried to remove those of us who were trying to make that happen from circulation. Furthermore, with these movements he wanted to cause disorder and divisions, and, ultimately, he wanted to neutralize the political potential of the independence movement.”
In that sense, Otegi has pointed out that this is “a case of lawfare that has failed.” “They have failed, because this country is a better country, one that lives with more security and is moving towards scenarios of more freedom and equality. And they have failed because in the whole of Euskal Herria, of the seven territories, the pro-independence left is the leading political force. “They failed to prevent a new political scenario and they did not prevent the pro-independence left from deploying all its political potential,” he indicated.
The leader of EH Bildu has stressed that “it is not viable to try to neutralize the independence movement” through lawfare cases and has indicated that “the State has done everything to try to neutralize them, from torture to the dirty war to the closure of newspapers.” “People like Arkaitz Rodríguez have spent up to 10 years in prison for cases of this type,” he added.
Finally, Otegi has asked for an assumption of responsibilities in this regard “as a contribution to coexistence.”
“On October 18, 2021, we made a statement in which we acknowledged our responsibility for some of the suffering this country has experienced and said it should never have happened. Isn’t it time for others to do the same as a contribution to the coexistence of this country? Let them recognize that they have done everything to stop the independence movement: from torture to the dirty war. If everyone recognizes what the nationalist left has recognized, we will make a better country,” he concluded.
