Basque leader freed from Spanish jail, vows to push for peace

A Basque leader and former member of the armed separatist group ETA who is credited with helping end violence in the northern Spanish region vowed Tuesday to keep pushing for peace after he was released from jail.

Arnaldo Otegi, 57, was met by about 200 supporters -- many waving red, white and green Basque flags --  as he left the prison in the northern city of Logrono.

He was freed after serving a six-and-a-half year sentence for trying to resurrect the outlawed Basque separatist party Batasuna.

"Some say there are no political prisoners in the Spanish state. But there would not be so many media here today if it wasn't for the fact that today a political prisoner left a Spanish jail," he said as his supporters chanted "Independence!"

Batasuna was banned in 2003 for being the "political wing" of ETA, which is blamed for over 820 killings in its campaign of bombings and shootings to create an independent Basque homeland in northern Spain and southwestern France.

It re-emerged as a legal pro-independence party, Sortu, which advocates for independence through democratic means.

Otegi was elected Sortu's secretary general while in jail, in 2013.

"Six-and-a-half years ago, we were jailed for betting on peace and I want to congratulate you for maintaining this bet, despite all the provocations," Otegi told his supporters outside the jail.

"Peace is the path to follow and it is what I propose to do with you."

After his release from jail Otegi is expected to take part in celebrations organized by his supporters in his hometown of Elgoibar.

He will not be eligible to run for office until 2022, although he might challenge this restriction in court.

Otegi told the New York Times in a written statement from prison ahead of his release that he aims to become the next leader of Spain's Basque Country, which will hold regional elections at the end of the year.

He told the newspaper he will run in March for internal elections to select candidates for EH Bildu, a coalition party seeking Basque separation.

The Basque separatist movement hopes Otegi's clout will help revive its fortunes at time when it faces a stiff challenge from new far-left party Podemos which gained the most votes in the region in national elections in December.

- A Basque Gerry Adams -

While some hail Otegi as a hero, for others, especially relatives of ETA victims, he remains a hate figure.

An active member of ETA since the age of 19, Otegi in the 1990s became one of the first ETA members to call for disarmament, earning him comparisons to Gerry Adams, the former head of the political wing of the Irish Republican Army (IRA).

In 2006-2007, he was one of the main architects of peace negotiations between ETA and the Spanish government.

The talks broke down after a bombing at Madrid airport in December 2006 that left two dead, an attack carried out by ETA militants opposed to disarmament.

The government then adopted a hardline against ETA arresting dozens of people with links to the outfit, including Otegi.

In September 2011 he was sentenced to ten years of jail for trying to revive Batasuna.

"The sentence was unjust and disproportionate, even jurists said so, as he had for a long time advocated for peace and the end of violence," journalist and Basque specialist Gorka Landaburu, who lost the sight of one eye due to an ETA letter bomb in 2002, told AFP.

The following month a weakened ETA declared a "definitive end to armed activity".

ETA has yet to formally disband or disarm although its last deadly attack on Spanish territory was in August 2009.

Spain's former crusading judge Baltasar Garzon, who ordered Otegi's arrest in 2009, backed his release.

"He can do much more outside than inside jail for peace," Garzon said last year.
Source: AFP