Netherlands: Basque prisoner faces extradition
01 January 2000
For over a year Basque political prisoner Esteban Murillo Zubiri has been jailed in Haarlem awaiting his possible extradition to Spain. Last year Murillo unsuccessfully attempted to argue to the Haarlem court that his extradition would be unlawful and unjustified, but on 24 August the court ruled against him. His final legal appeal is to the High Assembly, which will con-sider whether legal procedures were correctly observed. Spain has requested the extradition of Murillo for his alleged involvement in a murder and membership of ETA. His car was used as an escape vehicle during the ETA killing of a police officer in Irunea in 1980. Murillo admits lending his car, but he says he did not know what it would be used for. The charge of ETA membership, Murillo says, is false. He fears that it will be impossible to get a fair trial.
Last year demonstrations were organised to protest Murillo's innocence. On 13 March, 40 people demonstrated in Haarlem and on 27 June there was another demonstration in Haarlem, called by Jarrai, a Basque youth-organisation. Court hearings were also attended by sympathisers and a solidarity committee was set up. If the High Assembly finds no procedural errors, the final decision on his extradition lies with the Minister of Justice.
Murillo has been, since the Franco dictatorship, an active member of the left-nationalist union LAB. While he worked for them, he was arrested three times and allegedly tortured. The fear of further detention and torture forced him to flee to France. When he faced arrest there, he fled to Mexico but because of their policy of returning Basque refugees to Spain, he moved on to the Netherlands. That his fear of torture is justified is supported by the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Amnesty International who, in numerous reports, have condemned Spain for their treatment of Basque prisoners.
The Esteban Murillo Solidarity Committee hopes to stop the extradition and organised a demonstration in Haarlem which was broken up by the police. They also plan to organise a hunger strike and a large demonstration in the Hague.
Contacts: Esteban Murillo Zubiri, P/a De Koepel, Harmenjansweg 4, 2031 WK Haarlem, Netherlands; Solidariteits Komitee Esteban Murillo, Postbus 2884, 3500 GW Utrecht. Fax: 030 2314596, e-mail: staika@wanadoo.nl