Free Arnaldo Otegi

Arnaldo Otegi

ONE of the confidence-building measures the Spanish Government could take is the release of the imprisoned leader of the banned Basque party Batasuna, Arnaldo Otegi, Gerry Adams has said.
Otegi, a speaker at Sinn Féin Ard Fheiseanna, was described by Gerry Adams as a committed supporter of the need to develop a democratic process in the Basque Country.
Otegi told the Wall Street Journal recently that Batasuna rejects violence as a means of attaining political objectives.
“His continued imprisonment is unjust,” Gerry Adams said. “It is also an obstacle to the development of a process for peace making and positive change.”
The Spanish Government should also immediately lift the restrictions imposed upon political activists in the Basque Country and in particular the ban on the political party Batasuna, the Sinn Féin leader added.
“This is the time for encouraging democratic politics.”