The release of Ion Parot, sentenced to life imprisonment in 1997, has been demanded for years by Basque and human rights organizations.
Justice has granted his parole to Ion Parot, a former member of the Basque separatist organization ETA who has been imprisoned for more than thirty years, a decision however suspended by an appeal from the prosecution, we learned Thursday from his lawyer.
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The court for the application of anti-terrorism sentences (Tapat) in Paris has accepted that Ion Parot, 71, will serve his sentence at home, under an electronic bracelet. The national anti-terrorism prosecution (Pnat) however immediately appealed, he confirmed to AFP. “This is the fourth positive response from the court, and the fourth time that the Pnat has appealed, signifying a real relentlessness against Ion Parot and against the peace processin Spain, reacted his lawyer, Me Julien Brel.
Imprisoned for thirty-two years
The release of Ion Parot and that of Jakes Esnal, both imprisoned for thirty-two years, has been demanded for years by Basque organizations and the defense of human rights. The two septuagenarians were arrested and imprisoned in 1990, then sentenced in 1997 to life imprisonment with other members of the “traveling commandoof ETA, notably responsible for an attack targeting a garrison in Zaragoza which killed 11 people in 1987.
The fate of Jakes Esnal, detained on the Ile de Ré, is suspended until a decision by the anti-terrorist sentencing chamber of the Paris Court of Appeal, expected on July 21. The appeal hearing for Ion Parot, imprisoned in the detention center of Muret, near Toulouse, and who is on his sixth request for release, should be held in the coming months.
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In 2020, another member of the same commando, Frédéric “xistorHaramboure benefited from placement under an electronic bracelet, after thirty years in prison. Thirty former members of ETA, which announced its dissolution in 2018 after sixty years of existence, including four decades of armed struggle in France and Spain, are currently imprisoned in France.