Lack of medical care for Basque political prisoners

26.3.2003

WRITTEN QUESTION P-1275/03
by Koldo Gorostiaga Atxalandabaso (NI)
to the Council

Lack of medical care for Basque political prisoners shows how laws are not equally implemented in the Spanish Kingdom.

 

Bautista Barandalla´s case is one of the clearest examples of that. This 38-year old Navarrian has been in prison for over 12 years. In 2000 he was diagnosed with ulcerous proctitis but he was not admitted into hospital until March 2002. From that time, 13 times he has had parts of his colon and rectum removed. He was always moved from hospital to prison too early. Given Barandalla´s situation a request was made to the Criminal Court of Zaragoza for Barandalla´s release under Article 92 of the Penal Code due to his sufferings and incurable illness. This request was repeated several times and all of them were refused in spite of additional reports from different doctors and hospitals that consider it absolutely necessary for Barandalla to be released.

 

Can the Council say what steps it will take in a humanitarian bid to remedy this situation?

OJ C 51 E, 26/02/2004