Arnaldo Otegi
 | This article includes a list of general references, but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations. (July 2008) |
Arnaldo Otegi | |
|---|---|
 Arnaldo Otegi at a political rally | |
| Spokesman for Batasuna | |
| In office 1997–2003* | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 6 July 1958 Elgoibar, Basque Country, Spain |
| Political party | Batasuna |
| Other political affiliations | Euskal Herritarrok |
| Residence | Basque Country |
| Website | www |
| |
Arnaldo Otegi Mondragón (born 6 July 1958) is a Basque politician and spokesman for the outlawed Abertzale Basque separatist party Batasuna. He was one of the key negociators during the last unsuccesful peace talks in Loiola and Geneva, in 2006[1] . He is one of the leading figures at Batasuna's change of extrategy and ETA's end[2]. He now is in prison accused of trying to re-organize Batasuna[3].
Before joining politics he had been convicted of being an ETA member and taking part in several actions, amongst which was a kidnap attempt against the Basque entrepeneur Luis Abaitúa,[4]. In the 1990s he started his political career and he quickly gaining prominence within Basque separatism and becoming the leader of Batasuna, after the whole National Commitee of Herri Batasuna was arrested. However the party and the next created ones were declared illegal in 2003 due to its relationship with ETA.[5] In June 2007 he was convicted of "praising terrorism"[6][7] and was released from prison in August the following year. In October 2009 he was arrested for attempting to put Batasuna back together, and was given a ten year sentence.[8]
He remains an important figure within the Basque separatist movement.
Biography
Otegi was born on July 6, 1958 in Elgoibar, (Gipuzkoa), in what later would become the Autonomous Community of the Basque Country (Spain). He holds a university degree in philosophy and literature, is married and father of two children.
Between 1977 and 1989 he was actively involved in several operations conducted by ETA, a separatist organization seeking to establish a Marxist-Leninist Basque state. On February 21, 1989 he was found guilty of kidnapping and imprisoned for four years. He decided to change the approach through which he would effect the change he desired. In the Basque parliamentary election, 1994 he was the seventh placed candidate in Gipuzkoa on the list of Herri Batasuna (HB), a pro-Basque independence party linked to ETA. HB won six seats at the election with Otegi initially failing to be elected but on September 27, 1995 he became an MP, substituting a party colleague. In November 1997 the Spanish Supreme Court found several senior members of Herri Batasuna guilty of collaboratin with ETA and convicted them to a seven year sentence, and in the resulting power vacuum, Joseba Permach and Otegi were chosen to fill the new provisional leadership of Herri Batasuna.
On September 12, 1998, Otegi played a key role in the formulation of the "Declaration of Estella/Lizarra", which proposed to solve the Basque Conflict by beginning a process of dialogue with other nationalist parties, most prominently, the Partido Nacionalista Vasco/EAJ (PNV). In the Basque parliamentary election, 1998, he was a candidate for the party Euskal Herritarrok, which had replaced Herri Batasuna, representing the region of Gipuzkoa. The Lizarra-Garazi agreements, which resulted in an ETA truce at that time, helped give Euskal Herritarrok their best results in ten years, and they became the third-largest political party in Basque Country and the adjacent region of Navarre. This popularity in terms of votes was reversed as ETA unilaterally broke the cease-fire with new assassinations.
Recent trials
In August 2000, a senior Basque court accused him of "glorifying terrorism", after allegedly he had shouted "Gora Euskadi ta Askatasuna!" in France. However, the Spanish Supreme Court (Tribunal Supremo) closed the case, stating that crimes such as "glorifying terrorism" could not be pursued if committed abroad.[9][10] This precedent was then called forth by the Audiencia Nacional concerning the Carmelo Soria case.[11]
In May 2005 Arnaldo Otegi was put on trial for belonging to ETA, but was released after posting a bail for €400,000. He was arrested again the next year, only three days after ETA called off its "ceasefire". Shortly after, a Spanish Supreme Court ruling confirmed the 15-month prison sentence against Otegi for "glorifying terrorism," [12] [1] from 2003. He appealed the sentence, but a panel of judges unanimously rejected the appeal. In November 2005, Otegi was sentenced to a year in prison, on charges of slander against King Juan Carlos during a 2003 news conference. Otegi had then stated that the King was the "chief of the Spanish army, that's to say, the person responsible for the torturers, who favour torture and impose his monarchic regime on our people through torture and violence".[13]
On April 27, 2006 he was sentenced to 15 months in prison for glorifying terrorism in a speech he gave in 2003 in commemoration of the killing of a prominent ETA member 25 years ago. He started serving the sentence on June 8, 2007 [12] and was then released from prison in August 2008.
2009 arrest
On October 16, 2009, Otegi, was arrested for his involvement in attempting to reform Batasuna during a secret meeting, along with other Basque politicians and activists such as Rafael Díez Usabiaga, despite the meeting leading to an ETA ceasefire.[8] Whilst awaiting sentence he started a hunger strike, on January 27, 2010, but stopped it soon after.[14] In March 2010 the Spanish court sentenced Otegi to two years in jail for "glorifying terrorism" in a speech he gave in 2005 in which he compared a jailed ETA member to Nelson Mandela. He was also barred from holding public office for sixteen years.[15]
In September 2010 Otegi again faced trial for glorifying terrorism, this time at a November 2004 rally held in the Anoeta Velodrome in San Sebastian. He was found not guilty by the Spanish National Audience, who ruled that Otegi did not praise ETA, but was defending "peaceful coexistence and the need for a process of dialogue and negotiation in order to resolve the conflict in a non-violent and democratic way".[16] Otegi was found guilty of the initial charge, the reformation of Batasuna, in September 2011, and sentenced to ten years imprisonment.[8]
References
- ^ John Carlin Interviews Arnaldo Otegi
- ^ "The independentist strategy is incompatible with armed violence"
- ^ Judicial auto in Spanish (PDF)
- ^ Detenidos los presuntos secuestradores de Luis Abaitua
- ^ Goodman, Al (17 March, 2003). "Basque independence party banned". CNN. Retrieved 14 October, 2011.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|accessdate=and|date=(help) - ^ Goodman, Al (June 08, 2007). "Spain arrests ETA-linked lawmaker". CNN. Retrieved 14 October, 2011.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|accessdate=and|date=(help) - ^ Judicial auto in Spanish (PDF)
- ^ a b c "Engaging ETA". Irish Times. September 19, 2011. Retrieved 13 October, 2011.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|accessdate=(help) - ^ El Supremo no actuará contra Otegi porque vitoreó a ETA fuera de España, El Pais, 28 May 2002 Template:Es icon
- ^ "Terror Case Thrown Out". The New York Times. 28 May 2002. Retrieved 2007-10-28.
{{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - ^ Archivan el caso del asesinato de Carmelo Soria en Chile por el precedente de Otegi, El Pais, 31 May 2002 Template:Es icon
- ^ a b Basque leader arrested in Spain, BBC News, 8 June 2007 Template:En icon
- ^ Basque convicted for king insult, BBC News, 4 November 2005 Template:En icon
- ^ "Otegi and Diez to be tried for 'Bateragune case'". EITB. 27 June, 2011. Retrieved 14
October, 2011.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|accessdate=and|date=(help); line feed character in|accessdate=at position 4 (help) - ^ "Spain jails Basque separatist leader Arnaldo Otegi". BBC News. 2 March, 2010. Retrieved 14 October, 2011.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|accessdate=and|date=(help) - ^ "Arnaldo Otegi found not guilty of glorifying ETA at Anoeta rally". EITB. 12 September, 2010. Retrieved 14 October, 2011.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|accessdate=and|date=(help)