Arnaldo Otegi
Encyclopedia
Arnaldo Otegi Mondragón (born 6 July 1958) is a Basque politician and spokesman
for the outlawed Abertzale
Basque separatist
party Batasuna
.
Prior to entering politics he had been convicted of being an ETA
member and taking part in several actions, amongst which was a kidnap attempt against Luis Abaitúa, a Basque entrepreneur. In the 1990s he started his political career, quickly gaining prominence within Basque separatism and becoming the leader of Batasuna, however the party was declared illegal in 2003 due to its relationship with ETA. In June 2007 he was convicted of "praising terrorism" 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.
He remains an important figure within the Basque separatist movement.
, (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.
. However, the Spanish Supreme Court (Tribunal Supremo) closed the case, stating that crimes such as "glorifying terrorism" could not be pursued if committed abroad. This precedent was then called forth by the Audiencia Nacional concerning the Carmelo Soria
case.
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," http://www.khaleejtimes.com/darticlen.asp?xfile=data/theworld/2008/July/theworld_July748.xml§ion=theworld&col= 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".
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 and was then released from prison in August 2008.
. He was also barred from holding public office for sixteen years.
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". Otegi was found guilty of the initial charge, the reformation of Batasuna, in September 2011, and sentenced to ten years imprisonment.
Spokesman
A spokesperson or spokesman or spokeswoman is someone engaged or elected to speak on behalf of others.In the present media-sensitive world, many organizations are increasingly likely to employ professionals who have received formal training in journalism, communications, public relations and...
for the outlawed Abertzale
Abertzale
Abertzale in the Basque language means "patriot", and it is mainly used to mean "Basque nationalist". It comes from the fusion of aberri with the suffix -zale .Although the term is synonym of "patriot", its common use...
Basque separatist
Basque nationalism
Basque nationalism is a political movement advocating for either further political autonomy or, chiefly, full independence of the Basque Country in the wider sense...
party Batasuna
Batasuna
Batasuna was a Basque nationalist political party based mainly in Spain, where it was outlawed in 2003, after a court ruling declared proven that the party was financing ETA with public money. Batasuna is included in the "European Union list of terrorist persons and organizations" as a component...
.
Prior to entering politics he had been convicted of being an ETA
ETA
ETA , an acronym for Euskadi Ta Askatasuna is an armed Basque nationalist and separatist organization. The group was founded in 1959 and has since evolved from a group promoting traditional Basque culture to a paramilitary group with the goal of gaining independence for the Greater Basque Country...
member and taking part in several actions, amongst which was a kidnap attempt against Luis Abaitúa, a Basque entrepreneur. In the 1990s he started his political career, quickly gaining prominence within Basque separatism and becoming the leader of Batasuna, however the party was declared illegal in 2003 due to its relationship with ETA. In June 2007 he was convicted of "praising terrorism" 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.
He remains an important figure within the Basque separatist movement.
Biography
Otegi was born on July 6, 1958 in ElgoibarElgoibar
Elgoibar is an industrial town located in the province of Gipuzkoa, in the Autonomous Community of Basque Country, northern Spain.It is located in a valley and it is traversed by the Deba river....
, (Gipuzkoa), in what later would become the Autonomous Community of the Basque Country
Basque Country (autonomous community)
The Basque Country is an autonomous community of northern Spain. It includes the Basque provinces of Álava, Biscay and Gipuzkoa, also called Historical Territories....
(Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
). 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
ETA
ETA , an acronym for Euskadi Ta Askatasuna is an armed Basque nationalist and separatist organization. The group was founded in 1959 and has since evolved from a group promoting traditional Basque culture to a paramilitary group with the goal of gaining independence for the Greater Basque Country...
, a separatist organization seeking to establish a Marxist-Leninist Basque state. On February 21, 1989 he was found guilty of kidnapping
Kidnapping
In criminal law, kidnapping is the taking away or transportation of a person against that person's will, usually to hold the person in false imprisonment, a confinement without legal authority...
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
Basque parliamentary election, 1994
Elections to the Parliament of the Autonomous Community of the Basque Country, Spain, were held on October 23, 1994.The Basque Nationalist Party won 22 seats, the Socialist Party of the Basque Country came second with 12 seats, the Batasuna party and the People`s Party both won 11 seats each and...
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
ETA
ETA , an acronym for Euskadi Ta Askatasuna is an armed Basque nationalist and separatist organization. The group was founded in 1959 and has since evolved from a group promoting traditional Basque culture to a paramilitary group with the goal of gaining independence for the Greater Basque Country...
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
Basque conflict
The Basque conflict, also known as the Spain–ETA conflict, was an armed conflict between the Spanish state, France and the Basque National Liberation Movement, a group of social and political Basque organizations which seeked independence from Spain and France...
by beginning a process of dialogue with other nationalist parties, most prominently, the Partido Nacionalista Vasco/EAJ (PNV). In the Basque parliamentary election, 1998
Basque parliamentary election, 1998
Elections to the Parliament of the Autonomous Community of the Basque Country, Spain, were held on October 25, 1998.The Basque Nationalist Party won 21 seats, the People`s Party came second with 16 seats, the Batasuna party under the name Euskal Herritarrok and the Socialist Party of the Basque...
, 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
Navarre
Navarre , officially the Chartered Community of Navarre is an autonomous community in northern Spain, bordering the Basque Country, La Rioja, and Aragon in Spain and Aquitaine in France...
. 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 FranceFrance
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan 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. This precedent was then called forth by the Audiencia Nacional concerning the Carmelo Soria
Carmelo Soria
Carmelo Soria was a Spanish-Chilean United Nations diplomat. A member of the CEPAL in the 1970s, he was assassinated by Chile's DINA agents as a part of Operation Condor...
case.
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"
ETA's 2006 ceasefire declaration
The ETA's 2006 "permanent ceasefire" was the period spanning between 24 March and 30 December 2006 during which, following an ETA communiqué, the Spanish government, led by José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero on one side, and the militant group on the other, engaged in talks as a means to agree on a...
. Shortly after, a Spanish Supreme Court ruling confirmed the 15-month prison sentence against Otegi for "glorifying terrorism," http://www.khaleejtimes.com/darticlen.asp?xfile=data/theworld/2008/July/theworld_July748.xml§ion=theworld&col= 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
Juan Carlos I of Spain
Juan Carlos I |Italy]]) is the reigning King of Spain.On 22 November 1975, two days after the death of General Francisco Franco, Juan Carlos was designated king according to the law of succession promulgated by Franco. Spain had no monarch for 38 years in 1969 when Franco named Juan Carlos as the...
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".
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 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. Whilst awaiting sentence he started a hunger strike, on January 27, 2010, but stopped it soon after. 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 MandelaNelson Mandela
Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela served as President of South Africa from 1994 to 1999, and was the first South African president to be elected in a fully representative democratic election. Before his presidency, Mandela was an anti-apartheid activist, and the leader of Umkhonto we Sizwe, the armed wing...
. He was also barred from holding public office for sixteen years.
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
Audiencia Nacional of Spain
The Audiencia Nacional is a a special and exceptional high court in Spain. It has its seat in Madrid and jurisdiction over all of Spain and international crimes which come under the competence of Spanish courts....
, 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". Otegi was found guilty of the initial charge, the reformation of Batasuna, in September 2011, and sentenced to ten years imprisonment.