Free the 22 arrested Batasuna leaders
Following a call by the Communist Organisation of Greece (KOE) which we fully support and extend to all democratic and anti-imperialist forces of the world:
On October 2 the Spanish State arrested Joseba Alvarez, former MEP and actual International Relations Officer of Batasuna, Ohiane Agirre, spokeswoman of Batasuna, and Asier Tapia, member of the youth movement.
The accusations against them, apart from being a mere pretext and clearly unfounded, are hardly hiding the decision of the Spanish State to refuse any substantial dialogue with the Basque People, who has times and again expressed, democratically and persistently, its will to be recognized the right of self-determination.
We are now learning that an even more dramatic escalation of the repression against the Basque Patriotic Left took place, as 22 of Batasuna’s National Leadership have been arbitrarily arrested during a razzia last night. This constitutes another episode of the permanent (and unsuccessful) effort of the Spanish State to silence and exterminate the Basque Patriotic Left.
The Communist Organization of Greece (KOE) unequivocally condemns this full derailment of the Spanish State and its mechanisms. The efforts towards a political and democratic solution of the Basque question are once more dynamitized, and the Spanish government of Mr Zapatero bears the whole responsibility for this.
We are calling upon all the Left and Progressive forces, all the democratic citizens of our country, to protest the Spanish authorities against this last attempt of political extermination of a mass patriotic movement deeply rooted in the Basque society and representing hundreds of thousands of Basque citizens.
Athens, 5/10/2007
Communist Organization of Greece
