ETA prisoners lament the ‘ongi etorris’ and promise more “discreet” receptions

The ETA Prisoners Collective (EPPK) has made public this Monday its intention to put an end to street greetings to those released due to the end of their sentence and limit to “discreet” and private acts receptions and tributes, welcome (welcome).

This is stated in a statement sent to the newspapers New and Naiz.info. In the manifesto, the EPPK makes an unprecedented recognition among ETA prisoners outside the Nanclares route of repentance: “they understand“that the victims may feel “hurt” for the street tributes, and that is why they ask their social support network: “EPPK transfers our family, friends and colleagues, and Basque society, which wants us to the greetings that are made to us when we go out to the street are produced in a private and discreet way, following the path taken in general in recent months, “the statement said.

The note is the result of a debate among ETA prisoners of which Interior analysts were aware, as confirmed by sources from that ministry, although neither Penitentiary Institutions nor the department headed by Fernando Grand-Marlaska have been previously informed of the issuance of the statement. , these sources indicate.

“There are people who feel pain”

The prisoners admit that “there are people who have honestly expressed that feel pain with the public ‘ongi etorri’ “. Those who feel humiliated” are people who have suffered as a result of the actions of our activists in the past and we understand that may feel hurt“, they say, although they claim a right to”receive the embrace of those close to you“after” long years and harsh prison conditions. “

“Our desire is to alleviate all suffering and open new options, heal wounds and strengthen coexistence,” explain the inmates. The manifesto follows the line taken up by the nationalist left on the 10th anniversary of ETA’s announcement to end its attacks, even using the word “pain” with the same emphasis. The EPPK calls its ad “individual and collective contribution” to paz and to recognition of the suffering of others “, and admits to a political inopportunity of the welcome: “” Certain agents and parties “use them, he says, to seek “irresponsibly confrontation instead of coexistence“.

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“It is good news, what we have been asking for since 2016,” he tells EL PERIÓDICO Consuelo Ordóñez, president of the Collective Victims of Terrorism (COVITE). “But that we celebrate it does not mean that we have to thank them,” he added, “when we’ve been suffering our whole lives how they honored in style to the murderers of our relatives. “

For Ordóñez “the Abertzale left does this and everything else out of pure strategy. They feel social and political pressure. Let’s see if they comply.” COVITE has counted 181 “acts of terrorist cult” since 2016. This year they count 25 glorifications of ETA members, of which two, one in France and the other in the Bilbao neighborhood of Santutxu, have received prisoners released. The one from Bilbao entertained the ETA with a parade Agustin Almaraz, author of four murders.