Joseba Arregi Erostarbe, “Fiti”, during a trial against him before the National Court in October 2005. Bernardo Rodriguez (EFE)
The National Court has canceled for the second time the imposition of a third degree sentence (also known as semi-freedom regime) on Joseba Arregi Erostarbe, alias Fittipaldi or Fiti, a former ETA leader currently serving a sentence in San Sebastian Martutene Prison. The penal supervision judge, José Luis Castro, has revoked the Basque government’s decision to grant the ETA member a promotion on grounds of age, as the judge concludes that there is still progress in “recognizing” the harm caused to him must make victims of terrorism.
This decision of the judge, dated November 27, comes after the prosecutor’s office appealed against the decision of the Ministry of Equality, Justice and Social Policy of the Basque government, which in April agreed to transfer the terrorist to the third degree “for reasons of the Humanity and personal dignity due to age in people who represent a low level of social danger.” Fiti is 77 years old and has been incarcerated in Spanish penitentiaries since November 2000 – previously in French prisons since his arrest in 1992 in Bidart, France – and has already served three quarters of his prison sentence, which he will begin serving in 2026.
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However, the court emphasized that the medical reports did not reveal any “age-related deterioration in the inmate’s health.” And although the judge admits that “there is an important development of the prisoner in terms of criminal acceptance”, he adds that he still has a long way to go. “It is necessary that you clarify your personal attitude towards the specific victims of your crimes,” the judge points out, for example, referring to the terrorist who was sentenced to more than 2,000 years in prison for his involvement in several attacks. The resolution highlights that their actions caused 16 deaths and 88 injuries.
Judge Castro specifies that Joseba Arregi, who insists on the rejection of criminal activity and defends the renunciation of violence, refuses to go further and explicitly ask his victims for forgiveness. This is how the terrorist apologizes in a letter to the National Court: “I clearly feel that I would not have been the cause of your pain, but I am and I cannot do anything to redress the consequences of some of my actions.” All of them in naming them in a letter seems cold, distant, perhaps even re-victimizing, and I don’t want to ignore any of them.”
Likewise, the court asked Fiti (who was part of the ETA leadership that decided on the Hipercor attack that claimed 21 lives in 1987) whether he would be willing to cooperate to prevent the band’s actions and solve the unsolved ETA crimes. , to which He replied: “I have no problem responding to the legal calls made to me. But honestly, I think this question is out of place in 2023. Nobody denies that ETA has been dissolved and that the people of my generation who were part of it have no intention of reviving it. I seriously do not believe that there is any possibility of a resurgence of activity of this kind today. Incidentally, I have been separated (organically, if you will) from this organization since my incarceration more than 32 years ago. The people I met back then are all in prison, serving their 30-year sentences or simply dying. “I don’t think I can say anything interesting since the events I attended have concluded.”
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The government of Iñigo Urkullu, which took over the management of prisons in the Basque Country in October 2021, has already awarded Fiti the third degree in 2022. Then the correctional supervision judge also overturned that decision.
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