Basque sentenced to six moths prison and loss off civil rights. Reason: insisting to use Basque language in court, even tough Basque language is official language in Basque Country in Spain.
A citizen was an eye witness of an automobile
accident in the year 2000.
Summoned to court to declare as a witness to the event, the citizen showed readiness to cooperate in the court process.
Photo: Representatives of Behatokia(Svalapress)
However, the citizen expressed to the judge a wish to make the declaration in Basque, and that in order to communicate directly to the participants in the trial, he would not accept an interpreter, also pointing out to the judge that Basque was a native and official language and therefore he would insist on the right to declare directly (not through an interpreter) in Basque.
The judge rejected the citizen's request and announced the opening of a penal procedure,
concluding that he was refusing to cooperate with the justice system and stating that this went
against current legal ordinances.
In March, 2006, the citizen went to the 4th district court in Bilbao for judgment on the charges
made. On this occasion he expressed to the court, as on the previous occasion, a willingness
to cooperate with the court but the wish to do so in his own language and without the intervention of an interpreter.
The judge, in spite of claiming to be bilingual, made no use of Basque during the
trial. Neither the prosecutor nor the court secretary were Basque speakers and so could not
understand the citizen's statements.
The judge sentenced the citizen to six months in prison, imposed a special prohibition against
running for election, and ordered him to pay court costs for the offence of grave disobedience.
Behatokia pointed out in court that according to the Committee of Ministers of the Council of
Europe, not even the commitments laid down in the European Agreement on Regional or
Minority Languages are fulfilled by the Spanish court system. What is the use of an official language status if it does not allow us to use it in the courts? askes Behatokia.
The judge's ruling produced numerous reactions:
- I realise that what has happened to me may
happen to any other Basque-speaker from
now on.
Asier Basabe
(the citizen who was sentenced)
- The court system is a wilderness as far as
official [language] status is concerned; it is
simply not true that Basque can be used in
the courts.
Esteban Umerez, Justizia Euskaraz
(Basque language in Justice administration)
- The ruling is inexplicable
Miren Azkarate
(Basque Government spokesperson)
- This judgment sets a dangerous and worrying
precedent
Euskal Herrian Euskaraz
(pro-Basque organisation)
- The fact that a citizen has been punished
for wanting to speak Basque is very grave
indeed
Xabier Mendiguren (Kontseilua)
HIGH COST OF USING BASQUE
According to Behatokia, the Basque language watch dog, not only language rights but other rights are also denied to citizens who want to use the Basque language. In many cases violations of language rights lead to collateral infringements or result in discrimination:
The right to an effective defence or legal protection.
A citizen is denied the right to communicate
directly to the other participants in a trial
(rather than through interpreters).
A prisoner was punished with seven weeks in
isolation for speaking to a three-year-old daughter
in Basque in a phone call.
A citizen was subjected to discourteous and violent
treatment for answering a policeman in
Basque.
A distribution company did not deliver a package
because the street name was in Basque in
the address. The citizen received the response
that the street didn't exist.
In some territories, legal ordinances regulating
language rights are enforced systematically:
I
n Navarre, the legal ordinance that condones
the infringement of language rights has been
applied constantly since 2005.
In the Northern Basque Country, the French
administration still admits no recognition of the
Basque language and places more and more
obstacles in the way of citizens wishing to avail
themselves of their rights.
The breaking of laws regulating language
rights in some areas does not lead to any
legal consequences for the administrations
in question
In Navarre even the very limited rights recognized
by local law are not fulfilled by the Navarrese
administration.
The language law passed in 1982 in Araba,
Bizkaia and Gipuzkoa is still routinely broken. It
has come to be considered natural not to fulfil the
legal ordinance.
There are also cases of ordinances that imply
legal infringements, as shown by a number of
measures that have had to be taken against town
council decisions that do not comply with the law.
Availing oneself of one's language rights
results in discrimination in comparison with
other citizens
A complaint written in Basque was not accepted
and the citizen was made to write the complaint
in Spanish.
When somebody requests in Spanish from the
town council permission to use a public hall, they
receive an immediate response. If they ask in
Basque, they get an answer in a few days' time
The Chief Council of Judicial Power has said
that citizens wishing for a ruling to be passed in
Basque must request this explicitly.
Sending a notice in Spanish is regarded as sufficient
for the citizen to be considered to have
been informed. The right to be informed in
Basque is not respected.
A notary caused a four or five month delay
because the citizen requested a Basque version
of the document.
THE COURTS
Consequent on close study of
one of the cases, it is
Behatokia's finding that a
Basque speaker is treated as a
second-class citizen or a
foreigner.
ERTZAINTZA-Basque police
In addition to violations of citizens'
right to speak Basque, no
adequate mechanisms have
been set up to deal with
serious incidents of this kind.
THE HEALTH SERVICE
Not only Basque speakers'
right to be attended to in
Basque but their right to health
care is violated, and in some
cases they are even treated as
if they were foreigners.
(Follow the struggle for the protection and right to use Europe's oldest language on www.behatokia.org)
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