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News :: Civil & Human Rights
Latest reports of the 18/98 court case ( 27th to 7th March 2006)	Current rating: 0
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by EH Watch http://www.ehwatch.org/index_eng.htm 07/03/06 Session Nº27 Cross examination of the defendants in the Ekin piece begins
At 17.00 the session began. During this session, Xabier Alegría finished making his statement and Xabier Arregi, a defendant in the Ekin piece, took the stand. Arregi declared he was never a member of KAS, but he did decide to become a member of Ekin. According to his explanation, this organisation had no intention to control the organisations of the Basque National Liberation Movement, but rather, its aim was to work towards nation-building. Session Nº 26 The alleged evidence linking Alegría to ETA are excluded from the proceedings Lawyer Arantza Zulueta finalised her cross examination of Xabier Alegría and the alleged police reports included in Proceedings 75/89 had still not been found, even after a 10 minute recess. The Chair of the Tribunal ordered the cross examination to continue, to which Zulueta has objected, because, as she reminded the Tribunal, both the State Prosecutor and the Private Prosecution base their charge that Alegría acted under orders from ETA on the said documents. Following another recess, to search for the documents requested by the defence, the Chair of the Tribunal has had to acknowledge the fact that the alleged evidence was nowhere to be found. All the defence lawyers have signed a request for all the pages contained in Proceedings 75/89 to be numbered. 06/03/06 Session Nº25 Xabier Alegria continues with his statement During his cross examination, Alegría explained the creation, nature, aims and functioning of KAS, of which he was a member until it disbanded. He insisted that being an activist in KAS and a member of ETA was incompatible. He expressed surprise that anyone would consider KAS as a clandestine organisation, when, having been a spokesman for the said organisation, he had given many press conferences. Session Nº 24 The Audiencia Nacional had to hear Xabier Alegria’s torture account The Monday session began, as foreseen, with the cross-examination of Xabier Alegría, form whom the prosecution has requested a sentence of 51 years in jail. Alegría recounted the tortures he suffered in Guardia Civil custody, when he was arrested in the operation against Egunkaria in February 2003, and how he was made to give a statement in custody under pressure and torture. He was made to rehearse this statement to the Guardia Civil up to three times, until the Guardia Civil were sure that it was what they needed. When he was taken before the investigation judge, although he initially expressed his wish to remain silent, the judge insisted upon his questions, and he finally began to answer, because after the days in incommunicado detention and the torture, he had lost control over himself. He reminded the courtroom of the fact that he had been arrested twice previously and that he had not complained he was tortured, because the treatment he had received from the Policía Nacional on those occasions had been “correct” 01/03/06 Session Nº 23 After Gorostiaga and Trenor’s statements, the session was adjourned During the hour-long session yesterday (from 10.23 to 11.30) Pablo Gorostiaga and Carlos Trenor were called for cross examination (the latter is also acting as a lawyer for Gorostiaga). However, most of that time was used by the Court Secretary, trying to find documents from the 75/89 Proceedings. The prosecution is accuses both of them of being members of KAS, although, as seen during the two previous days, the Proceedings kept secret until now contributed no solid evidence to sustain the charges. This was yet another example of the lack of substance of the evidence Baltasar Garzón used to build his charges against the defendants in Case 18/98. The only evidence the Police had in order to accuse Pablo Gorostiaga of being a member of KAS was an interview he gave to the newspaper Egin, in 1993. Following Gorostiaga and Trenor’s statements, the session was adjourned. On Monday the trial will continue, with Xabier Alegria’s statement. This defendant has been waiting to give his statement since January 9. 28/02/06 Session Nº 22 Proceedings 75/89 show the lack of evidence against the defendants The afternoon session, in which Jabier Salutregi, Teresa Toda, José Luis Elkoro and Patxo Murga took the stand, continued in a similar vein. The proceedings known as 75/89 proved the weak basis of the charges against the defendants. There were many incomplete documents, often with no signatures, containing unsubstantiated accusations. Several of these documents mentioned news items as a basis for the accusations. For instance, a Guardia Civil report about Elkoro used the phrase “según los MCS” (according to the media) in order to support its argument. Session nº21 Supplementary cross examination begins Supplementary cross examination. This is the term used to refer to the statements being given by defendants who had already taken the stand before the content of Proceedings 75/89 was known to the defence lawyers. Going back to the beginning of the oral hearings is, to say the least, irregular from a procedural point of view. Thus, the trial has recommenced in the light of the evidence contained in the said Proceedings. Bixente Askasibar and Bigarren Ibarra have taken the stand for a second time. Again, they both denied having been members of KAS, as stated in some of the police reports contained in the Proceedings, several of which have no signature, and there is no way of knowing who wrote them. The defence has asked the Court Secretary to read out a police report dated 1994, where the police state, “There is no evidence or verified data about people who are at a leadership level in KAS” 27/02/06 Session Nº20 Trial adjourned, procedural actions moved back to beginning. Oral sessions will recommence from the beginning tomorrow The defence requested all procedural actions taken to date to be voided, due to defencelessness of the defendants, because the preliminiary proceedings had not been available to the defence before the beginning of the trial, as set out in law. On the other hand, the private prosecution, carried by the Association of Victims of Terrorism (AVT), did have access to these pieces of evidence, as shown by the fact that they cross examined several of the defendants on the basis of this evidence. The defence argued that several of these documents refer to defendants who have already given their statements, so the trial mu7st be declared void and recommenced from the beginning, in order to allow these defendants to defend themselves in view of this evidence. Thus, after considering the request, the Tribunal decided to adjourn the hearing and begin the trial again, with a cross-examination of the first defendant, Bixente Askasibar, who had already made his statement on November 21, the first day of the trial.
See also: http://www.ehwatch.org/index_eng.htm
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