Asier Carrera and Luis Mariñelarena in an image from June 13 at the beginning of their trial for the murder of Buesa.EFE
The third degree granted to Asier Carrera Arenzana, the ETA assassin who in 2000 killed the socialist Fernando Buesa and his escort, Jorge Díez, with a bomb, has been revoked by the Penitentiary Surveillance Court of the National Court, which considers that it was granted "prematurely" by the Basque Government's Ministry of Justice.
Judge María Reyes Jimeno believes that the good evolution of Carrera, imprisoned since 2000, and his repentance are not enough to grant semi-liberty without him having previously gone through the second degree and having enjoyed exit permits.
The magistrate admits that the ETA member has already been out for four months, enjoying the third degree, "without any negative incident being reported", despite what the readmission dictates.
The Basque Government,
In the order, which was issued on February 7, the judge admits an appeal from the National Court prosecutor's office against the relaxation in serving Carrera's sentence, who has been in the Álava (Zaballa) prison since 2021. The judge stresses that, despite the fact that Carrera has submitted writs of repentance, "there are no strong or sufficient technical reports for the purposes" of granting progression, reports the Efe agency.
"Based on the data expressed and notwithstanding the positive assessment of the evolution of the prisoner in his position regarding his crimes and in relation to their victims, whom he mentions by name, the proposed and adopted grade progression is considered premature. by the Ministry of Justice”, he details.
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The magistrate acknowledges that four months have passed since the partial release, "without any negative incident being reported", despite which, she stresses, it is already impossible to avoid the negative effects of the revocation of the aforementioned decision.
The order explains concludes that, "based on the aforementioned data and despite the positive assessment of the evolution of the prisoner in his position regarding his crimes and in relation to their victims, whom he mentions by name, it is considered premature the grade progression proposed and adopted by the Ministry of Justice”, details the magistrate.
The seriousness of the crimes that the terrorist perpetrated is one of the elements that Judge Reyes values.
“It cannot be ignored that the inmate is serving a sentence for very serious crimes, he still has many years of sentence pending and has not begun to enjoy ordinary exit permits as a step prior to semi-liberty.”
Despite the fact that the judge acknowledges that the letter by which Carrera recognized "the damage caused to the victims of the events" for which he was convicted, he assures that it cannot be "forgotten" that repentance has recently been assessed by the Chamber of Appeal "as insufficient for the start of ordinary exit permits".
Asier Carrera entered prison on November 14, 2000 and will have served three quarters of his sentence in 2023. The granting of the third degree or semi-liberty is a decision of the prison administration, but subject to judicial control.
Since the Basque Government took over the management of the prisons in Euskadi, it has opted to promote the third degree or semi-liberty so that at least 40% of the inmates (50% in the case of women) serve their sentences in open regime.
Of the 169 ETA prisoners who remain in Spain, only seven are in prisons outside the Basque Country.
This figure means that, four and a half years after Pedro Sánchez announced in the summer of 2018 the end of the dispersal policy launched in 1989 by the Government of Felipe González, 96% of the ETA members imprisoned in Spain will be held in prisons in the Basque Country or Navarre, and only the remaining 4% outside.
In France there are still another 13 prisoners, all but two being held in the Lannemezan prison, the closest to Spain, according to Etxerat (a group that supports prisoners).