Frédéric " Xistor " Haramburu, a Basque separatist imprisoned for nearly thirty years and sentenced to life imprisonment for having belonged to the French ETA commando, could be released on an electronic bracelet on August 6, AFP learned from a judicial source on Friday. " The Paris court of the application of sentences (TAP) has granted a placement under electronic probationary surveillance for a conditional release " to this man, also called Haramboure, " from August 6 ", indicated this source.
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The National Anti-Terrorism Prosecutor's Office (PNAT) appealed against this decision, according to the same source. The Penalty Enforcement Chamber (CAP) of the Paris Court of Appeal could examine this appeal before August 6. If the appeals chamber overturns the TAP's decision before August 6, this Basque separatist, now in his sixties, will remain in detention.
If it confirms the decision of the TAP, it will be placed from August 6 under an electronic bracelet, before a possible future parole. In the event that the examination of this appeal takes place after August 6, Frédéric “ Xistor ” Haramburu will, whatever happens, be placed under an electronic bracelet pending a decision from the CAP.
A first request for release refused
In a press release, Bake Bidea (Chemin de la Paix), a collective which campaigns for the rights of Basque prisoners, denounced " the blindness and the vengeful attitude of the PNAT ". He calls for a mobilization on Saturday at 11:00 am in Saint-Pée-sur-Nivelle (Pyrénées-Atlantiques), behind the slogan: “ Accomplish his sentence until death? 30 years is enough! ".
This Basque separatist has already formulated requests for release. In 2019, the penalty enforcement chamber had already refused a request for release which had been previously accepted by the TAP. The ex-etarra had been sentenced in 1997 by the special assize court of Paris, alongside other members of the “ ETA itinerant commando ”, to life imprisonment, with a period of safety. 18 years old.
About twenty attacks committed in Spain in the 1980s have been attributed to this branch of the Basque separatist organization in France. Its members, all French, were arrested in 1990. Since then, ETA has turned the page of these bloody decades by renouncing the armed struggle in 2011. Peace activists entered the scene in 2016 to organize disarmament.
ETA announced its dissolution in 2018 after more than 40 years of armed struggle for the independence of the Basque Country. In total, 853 deaths are attributed to the organization.