A judge proposes to an ETA prisoner to meet with victims to access semi-liberty

Transfer of the coffin of prison officer Máximo Casado, victim of the attack in which ETA prisoner Juan Carlos Subijana participated.

The judge of the National Court María Reyes Jimeno has revoked the third degree of prison or semi-liberty that the Basque Government granted in August to ETA prisoner Juan Carlos Subijana Izquierdo.

In the order, to which EL PAÍS has had access, the magistrate argues her decision, among other reasons, that in his writings of repentance the inmate avoids citing the armed gang as a terrorist and shows "a certain equidistance" when speaking of "all the victims".

For this reason, the Penitentiary Surveillance judge concludes that the ETA member has not sufficiently addressed or modified "the foundations of his criminal acts" and that it would be "advisable for the prisoner to participate in [a] restorative justice program."

The restorative justice meetings are similar to the 14 that were held in 2012 among repentant ETA prisoners who took advantage of the

reinsertion route and victims of the terrorist organization.

In 2016, Prisons extended them to those convicted of common crimes who were serving their sentences through alternative measures and, three years later, to those who were deprived of liberty.

In recent years, famous inmates have participated in them such as the former treasurer of the PP Luis Bárcenas and the former vice president of the Government Rodrigo Rato.

In 2021, Penitentiary Institutions opened the door for ETA prisoners to also participate.

Then, about twenty inmates from the organization showed their interest.

The objective of these meetings is for the victims to obtain reparation, at least symbolic, for the damage suffered and, at the same time, to facilitate the reintegration of the inmates, making them aware of the pain they have caused.

Participation does not imply a reduction in sentence or automatic access to prison benefits, although the prison treatment boards ―formed by prison professionals― do take it into account to, precisely, progress to the third degree or grant permission to prisoners .

More information

The legal value of the repentance of ETA prisoners

Subijana, sentenced to 28 years in prison for the sticky bomb attack that cost the life of prison officer Máximo Casado in October 2000, is the third ETA prisoner whose open regime was revoked by the National Court in February and the tenth since the Basque Government assumed prison powers in October 2021. In most cases, the argument put forward by the National Court has been precisely that the prisoners of the terrorist organization had not sufficiently proven their repentance or not they had explicitly apologized to the victims.

However, Subijana is the first to whom the Penitentiary Surveillance judge demands that he take a reintegration course that includes meetings with victims if he wants to enjoy the open regime again.

Photograph of the police file of ETA prisoner Juan Carlos Subijana. National Police

In the judicial resolution that has forced the ETA member to re-enter the Basauri prison (Bizkaia), dated February 22, the magistrate details that the Treatment Board of this penitentiary center proposed, with the vote against one of its members , granting this ETA member semi-freedom considering that his prognosis for recidivism was "low" in view of his good conduct, family support, his explicit waiver of reoffending and his decision to pay the civil liability imposed on him in judgment.

The proposal, which also highlighted that the inmate suffered from two chronic illnesses and that he was going to look for work, was endorsed by the Basque Government's Ministry of Justice in August.

This decision was appealed by the Prosecutor's Office.

Now the judge has agreed with the Public Prosecutor's Office when considering that, in the face of the arguments in favor put forward by prison professionals and the Basque Ministry of Justice, there are others of greater weight.

Among them, he points out the seriousness of the crime committed (murder) and that "there is still a long period of compliance with the imposed sentence pending", which will not be extinguished definitively for another 12 years, in 2035. In addition, the magistrate insists that The ETA member has been enjoying permits for less than a year and that, although he has begun to pay the civil liability to which he was sentenced (400,000 euros), the money consigned so far (210 euros) is "very little."

Regarding the writings of repentance, the judge points out that Subijana has presented two.

The most recent is from last October and in it he mentions his victim and his relatives and "certainly, it does not respond to the stereotyped and ambiguous writing scheme, so it represents an important treatment advance in the evolution of the prisoner," says the magistrate.

However, in his order he adds that, as stated by the Prosecutor's Office in his appeal, there are certain expressions in them that, in his opinion, "denote a lack of sufficient improvement" for which he considers that it is necessary "to continue working on the deficits that led the inmate to commit crimes.”

Specifically, she points out that in said writings she refers to "violence to achieve political objectives",

which can be interpreted as a political legitimization of terrorist activity.

Or that he speaks of the “organization in which he was a member”, without defining it as terrorist, in addition to calling the attacks “armed struggle” and showing “a certain equidistance in his reference to 'all the victims'”.

For the magistrate, all this reveals that "the foundations of their criminal acts have not been sufficiently addressed and modified to date" and emphasizes that "there is no evidence of the participation of the offender in restorative justice programs that can corroborate the sincerity of repentance and contrast the favorable evolution that the prisoner has been pointing out.

For all these reasons, she concludes that the ETA member's semi-freedom is "premature" and she orders that he be classified again in the second degree, the ordinary one, in which he leaves the door open for him to continue enjoying exit permits.

It is at this point, where the magistrate emphasizes that it would be "advisable for the prisoner to participate in the restorative justice program for the purposes already expressed, as a step prior to a semi-liberty regime."

Since the Basque Government assumed prison jurisdiction, it has granted 34 semi-liberties, 24 of which have been appealed by the Prosecutor's Office before the Penitentiary Surveillance Court of the National Court.

Of these, together with the 10 already revoked after the decision on Subijana, the judge has so far confirmed seven, although three of them were appealed again before the National Court by the Prosecutor's Office.

One has finally been confirmed, and the other two remain to be resolved.

There are currently 144 ETA prisoners in Basque prisons, out of a total of 160 in all of Spain.