The member of ETA, Xabier Atristain, has been arrested this Thursday in San Sebastián, one day after the Supreme Court refused to review his sentence to 17 years in prison following the sentence of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) that considered his right to a process with all the guarantees.
Atristain, who was released on February 17 after the ECHR condemned Spain for not allowing him to choose a lawyer when he was detained incommunicado in 2010, has been re-interned in the Martutene prison in San Sebastian.
Members of the Ertzaintza have arrested him in the center of San Sebastián, since a search, arrest and imprisonment order from the National Court weighed on him, the Basque Department of Security reported in a note.
It specifies that the arrest took place after 1:00 p.m. and that it occurred to "comply" with an order from the Criminal Chamber number 3 of the National Court.
The ECHR ruled that not allowing Atristain to choose a lawyer when he was arrested in 2010 and was held incommunicado could have an impact on his initial confession and subsequent trial, and ordered Spain to compensate him with 12,000 euros for moral damages and 8,000 for expenses and fee.
Atristain then filed an appeal for review before the Supreme Court to annul his conviction, arguing that the ECHR ruling concluded that the prohibition on choosing a lawyer "was such that it undermined the fairness of the subsequent criminal proceeding to the extent that the plaintiff's initial incriminating statement was admitted as evidence."
However, the Criminal Chamber of the Supreme Court has considered that, even dispensing with these statements, there is other evidence unrelated to them by which the same convicting conclusion could have been reached on the facts that support his conviction, for which reason The review of the final judgment is not appropriate in this case.
Sortu, the party of the nationalist left, has posted a tweet on its Twitter account in which it describes this arrest as "unfair and outrageous". "We will continue fighting until Xabier and all the others take to the streets," the message added.
