Martxelo Otamendi.m4v

Martxelo Otamendi, Editor of Berria, the Basque language daily, was in town last week for the Aisling Awards and gave me this interview about the current state of the State case against him and his fellow directors of the Basque daily Egunkaria, closed by the authorities and banned in 2003. Tortured after their arrest, Martxelo and his co-accused have won the support of the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture who found clear evidence that they had been subject to a range of tortures, including in Martxelo's case, the use of the infamous plastic bag over the head to create a feeling of suffociation. All Martxelo's interviews were carried out while he was naked, on occasions being told to rest on all fours. In one occasion, a gun was put to his head. When he reported the torture to a prison doctor, he was dragged from his cell and had a gun put to his head again. Almost six years on, there is hope that the embarrassed Spanish authorities (the only western government to shutter a newspaper in recent years) will not proceed with charges against the group who had been accused of sending 'secret messages' to ETA through articles in the paper. You can hear Martexlo's full account of the case in our interview.

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News & Politics

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• Martxelo
• Otamendi
• Berria