The Movement for Amnesty and Against Repression will show its support this Thursday by organizing a rally at 19:00 in front of the French consulate in Bilbao.

Since June in the Prison of Valence

Zobaran and Goieaskoetxea were in a state of madness last June at the prison of Valence, next to the Alps, 962 kilometers from the Basque Country. After a discussion, the complaint was made public on July 20. For both prisoners, the "new provocation" and the "serious increase in dispersion" meant that they had been sent there: "Direct attack on the Collective of Basque Political Prisoners." In addition, they recalled that "the main argument of the French authorities to take us to Valence was to 'bring families closer'", which they say "mock our family and our country". Both were willing to fight for a policy of dispersion and "asked for practical help and support" from the Basque population.

A couple of weeks later, on August 8, Zobaran and Goieaskoetxea entered the "mitard", in isolation cells, to protest against the increase in the dispersion of political prisoners. They also refused to visit. The AAEAM reported that in the isolation cells, "dogs dressed in anti-riot clothing (helmets, flocks,...) appeared". Zobaran and Goieaskoetxea "were not beaten but were taken to their cells by the arm and at that time in the courtyard they were also taken to the courtyard." Faced with this, the Biscayans "made another plant to take them to the punishment cell." In this case, they were divided into different modules and Zobaran began a hunger strike against this new measure.

Two days later, Gorliz’s political prisoner canceled the hunger strike he had been on since Monday. According to the explanation given by the prison, the reason for the separation of Ibon Goiakoetxea and Aletxu Zobaran was that the punishment cells of the module were full." However, the two have resisted the retreat and the fight against dispersion.

This news has been published by Triuka and we have brought it to LUZ thanks to the CC-by-sa license.