|
PRESS RELEASE Juanra has to go back to prison.It is with great dismay that we heard the verdict from the court today. Juanra is to be locked up again. The internal affairs ministry requested it. Juanra was set free on 20 000 euros bail on June 25, having spent five months in solitary confinement in Vught. Subsequently, on September 17, another panel of judges found to extend this freedom on bail until the moment that Juanra's extradition would be final. Juanra has never made a secret of why he fled to Amsterdam. In Spain, political opponents are systematically mistreated and tortured, especially when accusations of ETA collaboration are involved. Even since he was freed on June 25, Juanra has been clear about his stay in the Netherlands. And that he was not planning to flee the Netherlands because he wanted to face the accusations against him with eyes wide open. Fleeing would mean that he would have to spend the rest of his life hiding out. He would not be able to let his critical voice be heard that way and the repression directed toward him would never end. Juanra has clearly proven to the court that he is taking this seriously. Three times now he has showed up for court sessions with his toothbrush knowing full well that he was running a serious risk of being locked up again. Three times now we have bid farewell to Juanra, who will very likely disappear behind bars for years once he is extradited to Spain. It is obvious that Juanra is not a flight risk. Locking him up can only be seen as a political decision. The Netherlands is sticking its neck out for Spain by doing so. That Juanra needlessly has to spend months in jail again as a result appears to be of lesser importance. For us this indicates once more that our civil rights are of secondary importance. And that relations with a country where political opponents are tortured and mistreated are more important for the Netherlands than the norms and values that make a democratic country liveable. It is made all the more apparent that this is a politically motivated decision from the justice ministry by the "reasons" why Juanra has to go back to jail: the facts that he has contact with the Dutch left-wing movement and stays in Vrankrijk are directly counted against him. Even though he has not broken a single law in the Netherlands. So this is a case of someone being locked up for his OPINION. That shouldn't be allowed in a state based on civil rights, but it has long been the case already that civil rights are not respected in the Netherlands when it is a question of "security". Spain tortures and oppresses opposition. |