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MORE NEWS AND INFORMATION
AT:<a href="http://www.kalera.org/?newlang=eng" eudora="autourl">
http://www.kalera.org/?newlang=eng<br><br>
</a>Gara 22-09-2006<br><br>
INTERVIEW: Iñaki de Juana, Basque political prisoner, in Algeciras
Hospital<br>
“Every measure they have taken is against my will”<br><br>
-<x-tab> </x-tab>“The medical
vice-director of the prison told me he would not allow me<br>
to be on hunger strike for more than 50 days”<br><br>
Iñaki de Juana was admitted to Algeciras hospital on Tuesday and he
is<br>
being intravenously force-fed since Wednesday. GARA is publishing an<br>
exclusive interview, dated September 14 in Algeciras jail, when the<br>
Donostia-born prisoner had spent 38 days with no food. In the
interview,<br>
De Juana states that all the measures the medical teams have taken
towards<br>
him “and the measures yet to come” are against his will.<br><br>
“I don’t think they will take much longer”. This was what Iñaki de
Juana<br>
said last week about the possibility of being force-fed “against my
will<br>
and by force”. In this interview, the prisoner goes over his situation
and<br>
the situation of the Basque Political Prisoners’ Collective,
highlighting<br>
the idea that there is a Spanish State political strategy being this<br>
situation.<br><br>
- On August 7 you began an indefinite hunger strike. Which were the
main<br>
reasons that led you to this?<br><br>
There are four reasons: I am convinced that the jurisprudence created
in<br>
my case will affect all political prisoners and freedom of speech too,
not<br>
just me; I am sure that I am not harming anyone and that any
positive<br>
consequences will be for everyone and negative consequences will
only<br>
affect me; the need to sat “enough is enough” in the face of so many<br>
attacks; and the need to demand my release after having finished
serving<br>
my sentence two years ago.<br><br>
- Instead of choosing another form of struggle, you chose the
toughest<br>
form of protest…<br><br>
The forms of struggle available to a prisoner are very limited:
lock-ups,<br>
refusal to do certain things, hunger strikes and some other purely<br>
symbolic things. Unfortunately, and despite the fact this is also
subject<br>
to many limits, the only thing that can be taken seriously as a
protest<br>
and may serve as a form of pressure is to place your life in the hands
of<br>
the Administration. And this is also the form of struggle best
understood<br>
outside, precisely because of its toughness.<br><br>
- You have had no food for over a month, how has this time
passed?<br><br>
Very quickly, because of the tremendous motivation I have. I feel
very<br>
strong and positive. Physically, I feel the normal wear, but<br>
psychologically I am even more determined than when I made the
decision.<br><br>
The Audiencia Nacional ordered you to be taken to a hospital for
various<br>
tests and they also ordered you to be force fed, even against your
will.<br>
What is your opinion on this?<br><br>
To date, September 14, they took me out to hospital on the first two<br>
weeks, to carry out electrocardiograms and various tests; I refuse to
do<br>
this voluntarily so as not to cooperate with a medical team made up of
the<br>
very same people who are prepared to act against my will and using
force.<br>
After those two weeks, they are carrying out the tests inside the
prison,<br>
always under the coverage of the Audiencia Nacional decision.<br><br>
The AN has issued two decisions up to now: one from the Central<br>
Penitentiary Court and another one from the First Section of the
Penal<br>
Court. Both say I can be taken to hospital whenever they want and they
can<br>
do all kinds of tests.<br><br>
They have not issued the order to force-feed me yet, but they have
said<br>
they will and I don’t think they will take much longer, because even
the<br>
medical vice-director of the prison told me he would not allow me to be
on<br>
hunger strike for more than 50 days without them force-feeding
me.<br><br>
Both the measures they have taken up to now and the ones still to come
are<br>
unjustly violating my will, regardless of how much constitutional
backing<br>
they have. It is not only psychological torture, in that it violates
my<br>
will, but also physical, violating my body, because they do it
through<br>
physical force. In addition, these measures lengthen your suffering,
but<br>
they do not guarantee you will live, nor do they guarantee you will have
a<br>
healthy life in decent conditions.<br><br>
- One of the court decisions used your medical precedent of “kidney<br>
failure” as justification…<br><br>
In the early 90s, in Salto del Negro jail, there were a number of
very<br>
tough struggles. During 1992, I took part in three long hunger
strikes.<br>
Other comrades, Esteban, Tapia, Garratz… did more than I, before and
after<br>
I was there.<br><br>
During the third and last hunger strike I took part in, after<br>
forty-something days I had a bad case of kidney failure. They
forcefully<br>
intubated me and urgently got me out of the prison. I must have been
in<br>
bad condition because there was a doctor with me all the way on the
ship<br>
and then in the ambulance, all the way to the Málaga Prison
Infirmary,<br>
where they held me for a month and a half until I recovered.<br><br>
As you know, when the kidneys stop, the damage is definitive, but mine
did<br>
not get that bad. The damage was reversible and I recovered
completely.<br>
Fourteen years later, the Penitentiary Administration has shaken the
dust<br>
off this old situation and included it in the medical history it has
sent<br>
to the Audiencia Nacional to justify these hurried measures. That is
why<br>
the court decision makes that reference.<br><br>
However, I want to make it clear that at the time of beginning the
hunger<br>
strike my health was perfect, I had no illnesses whatsoever.<br><br>
- You have expressed total determination to carry on with the hunger<br>
strike, what makes your decision be so firm?<br><br>
It is the only weapon I have. I do not know what will happen in this<br>
situation. It will depend on several factors. But I am certain that
the<br>
alternative is life imprisonment and dying of old age in prison. I
choose<br>
to fight, and we will see what happens. In any case, fighting in itself
is<br>
winning. But I do not want my decision to be seen as a desperate
measure;<br>
that it is not. It is a struggle.<br><br>
- Since you began your protest many protests have taken place in the<br>
street. What is the value of these gestures of solidarity? Do you feel
the<br>
warmth from the street?<br><br>
Yes, it gets in here and I can feel it. These actions are extremely<br>
important for my morale and for the possible, though difficult,
resolution<br>
of this situation. I am immensely grateful. But I am also conscious
that<br>
only a small part of this is because of me, and so it should be.<br>
Solidarity is for all the political prisoners and for all those who
suffer<br>
reprisals because of their political ideas. Of course, mine is one of
the<br>
most striking situations, although all of them are a scandal. And at
this<br>
point in time it seems this has been cathartic in the midst of the<br>
sickness about the lack of movement and all the attacks.<br><br>
Attacks against the Basque Political prisoners’ Collective and their<br>
living conditions have come in quick succession; what is your reading
of<br>
the situation and what is your assessment of the Collective as a
whole?<br><br>
I am not the person to ask about the Collective as a whole. The only
ones<br>
who can and must answer that are the comrades officially appointed<br>
representatives of all the Basque political prisoners. Plus, honestly,
it<br>
would be unfair for me to answer this because, strange as it may seem,
I<br>
do not know. I mean that after the policy of dispersal began, I have<br>
almost always been held in isolation wings, with very few comrades, so
I<br>
only know what a few of us think.<br><br>
Personally, I think that for years, especially the last three years,
the<br>
State has been filling the bag with hostages; in order to let them
go<br>
later on, if needs be, little by little. And to draw out any
possible<br>
resolution process over the years, keeping up the blackmail. To sell
the<br>
dismantling of the previously taken increases in repression as if this
was<br>
a gesture of generosity and after a number of years, to arrive at the
same<br>
situation we were in fifteen years ago.<br><br>
However, and I am not talking in anyone’s name, what I do know, as
any<br>
observer should, is that the Collective has resisted every kind of
attack<br>
for almost thirty years, and we will continue to resist.<br><br>
- In your case, they have used two opinion articles in order to request
a<br>
new sentence of 96 years in jail…<br><br>
But the first argument they used not to release me was because they
voided<br>
definitive judicial decisions about my remission due to studies. When
they<br>
could no longer use this because it was even causing contradictions
among<br>
the judges and they still had not come up with the “Parot Doctrine”,
they<br>
came up with the thing about the articles. Anything goes to keep the<br>
hostage bag full. Don’t let anyone out; or, at least, don’t let
anyone<br>
they don’t want out.<br><br>
- Lately, Basque political and institutional leaders have made
statements<br>
asking for the prisoners to be repatriated, or, at least, for them to
be<br>
moved closer to their homes. What is your assessment of these
statements?<br><br>
They are a firework display. Pure hypocrisy. Because these are nothing
but<br>
statements, the deeds do not match the words. They implement no
measures<br>
to give credibility to their words. Plus, you must not forget that
all<br>
those leaders are collaborators in dispersal, the suffering, the
deaths,<br>
inside prison and also relatives and friends, the road accidents,
the<br>
economic burden…<br><br>
The only ones who have always been on the side of the prisoners are
the<br>
Basque independence movement, and we must not forget this or be
distracted<br>
with talk and hot air. What is happening is that, with their attitude
and<br>
lack of dignity, yet again, all those politicians are looking to
make<br>
political profit from the possible future repatriation of the
prisoners.<br><br>
- Do you have any hope that popular pressure will achieve anything for
the<br>
Collective?<br><br>
Personally, I expect nothing but repression from the Spanish leaders.
I<br>
expect nothing from Basque and false-Navarrese collaborationists. As<br>
always, the independence movement will have to face the problems and
solve<br>
them on its own, with its own strength. As always, through struggle
and<br>
sacrifice. Struggling and rebelling means not allowing ourselves to
be<br>
assimilated. It means resistance. And, in the long run, it means
victory.<br><br>
<br>
-- <br>
Free All Political Prisoners!<br>
nycjericho@riseup.net •
<a href="http://www.jerichony.org/" eudora="autourl">www.jerichony.org<br>
<br>
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