Juan María Atutxa
Juan María Atutxa | |
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| 4thPresident of the Basque Parliament | |
| In office November 25, 1998 – May 16, 2005 | |
| Preceded by | Joseba Leizaola |
| Succeeded by | Izaskun Bilbao Barandica |
| Interior Minister ofBasque Country | |
| In office March 31, 1980 – September 1, 1998 | |
| President | José Antonio Ardanza |
| Preceded by | Juan Lasa Jauregi |
| Succeeded by | José Manuel Martiarena Lizarazu |
| Member of theBasque Parliament | |
| In office November 25, 1998 – October 4, 2005 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Juan María Atutxa Mendiola May 18, 1941 Areatza,Biscay,Spain |
| Political party | PNV-EAJ |
Juan María Atutxa Mendiola(born May 18, 1941, inAreatza) is a politician from theBasque Country(an autonomous community inSpain) with anationalist ideology.A member of theBasque Nationalist Party,he wasHead of the Department of Interior(1991–98) andPresidentof theBasque Parliament(1998–2005). He currently heads theSabino Arana foundation.
Head of the Department of Interior (1991-1998)
[edit]During his term as a regional minister, he was tasked with implementing the recently passed Basque Country Police Act which the regional police body (Ertzaintza) and mandated its extension to the whole autonomous community. Since then, thecriminality ratesin the Basque Country have consistently ranked among the lowest in Spain according to the data published each year by the office of the Spanish Attorney General[citation needed].He also implemented the Emergency Response Act, a law unifying the protocols for emergency assistance in the Basque Country, and the Spectacles Act, which mandated periodic safety inspections on buildings authorized to hold public events.
Electoral regulations were also under his responsibility. In this area, he drafted the reform of the electoral law establishing the possibility of a future use ofelectronic votingand leaving the actual date of implementation to the Parliament. Furthermore, the Department of Interior introduced many technological advances during his tenure, greatly increasing the pace of the scrutiny and offering election night-data over theInternet,a first in Spain.
President of the Basque Parliament (1998–2005)
[edit]In the1998 electionthe Basque Nationalist Party renewed its ranks, dropping incumbentLehendakariJosé Antonio Ardanzain favour of the younger, more nationalist-orientedJuan José Ibarretxe.The Presidency of the Parliament was also affected by this renovation, and incumbent PresidentJoseba Andoni Leizaolahanded over the chair to Mr. Atutxa. He stayed in office for two terms, but his third run for the head of the legislature after the2005 electionwas blocked by the junior coalition partners of his party. After nine rounds of voting in a tie with theSocialistcandidate Miguel Buen, he withdrew his candidacy and was replaced by his party colleagueIzaskun Bilbaowho won the vote.[1]
Unfair conviction
[edit]His tenure as president saw the enactment of the Spanish Political Parties Act, which sought to outlaw any party that did not condemn the violence ofETA;under this law,Batasunawas declared illegal by theSpanish Supreme Court,which considered that it had tangible links to ETA.
The reporting magistrate in the lawsuit wasManuel Marchena.[2]Consequently, the court ordered the Parliament[3]to disband theparliamentary groupof the former party,Sozialista Abertzaleak,which, even though they would still be members of the Parliament, would have denied them the public money allotted to groups. Given that the standing rules of the Parliament did not contemplate the disbanding of parliamentary groups, the Basque nationalist majority in the Bureau considered that the Supreme Court's decision would require rules to be altered in order to meet it.
This started a chain of lawsuits in both theHigh Court of the Basque Countryand theSpanish Supreme Courtin which the three Bureau members were charged with an offence ofcontempt of courtfor their disobedience to a final ruling of the Supreme Court, which ignored its own Botín doctrine in order to prosecute the Basque MPs.[4]After being initially acquitted onparliamentary immunityby the Basque High Court[5]and an appeal by the far-right unionManos Limpiasin 2007, founded by Miguel Bernard Remón, the Supreme Court sentenced him to a €18,000 fine and 18 months of disqualification for the exercise of any public office in early 2008.[6]
In June 2017, theStrasbourg Tribunal of Human Rightscondemned Spain for its irregular conviction of the Bureau members Juan Maria Atutxa, Conchi Bilbao and Gorka Knörr.[7]Finally, eleven years on after his conviction by the Supreme Court, the same tribunal overturned it, clearing him and the MPs condemned in the same case of all offences, besides stating that the binding character of the Strasbourg tribunal's sentences for Spanish justice is "out of question".[8]
Criticism
[edit]In the political field he sternly confronted the violence ofETA,a decision that would make him a target for the group.[9]He was criticized by some Spanish and Basque forces for refusing to break up the parliamentary group, despite not being qualified to make that decision. He replied showing his indignation against the accusations of collusion with the group, citing his status as a potential target:
La manipulación y el engaño de determinadas formaciones políticas y algunos medios de comunicación llega al extremo de considerarme connivente con aquellos que precisamente tratan de segar mi vida. Se hace muy difícil llegar a la noche a mi casa llevando bajo el brazo un periódico que afirma cuanto antecede, y al mismo tiempo estar con mi servicio de seguridad planificando el horario y la ruta que hemos de seguir la mañana siguiente para llegar con vida al Parlamento Vasco. |
The manipulation and deception from certain political formations and mass media comes to the point of considering me an accomplice of those trying to reap my life. It is very hard for me to arrive at home at night carrying a newspaper asserting all of that, and at the same time have my security service plan the times and routes we shall take the next morning in order to arrive at the Basque Parliament alive. |
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^(in Spanish)El Mundo:El Parlamento vasco elige a Izaskun Bilbao (PNV) como presidenta
- ^Pozas, Alberto (2019-10-29)."El Supremo anula la condena a Atutxa".Cadena SER(in Spanish).Retrieved2019-10-30.
- ^(in Spanish)El Mundo:El Parlamento vasco recibe la orden del Supremo que le da cinco días de plazo para disolver SA
- ^"El Supremo cambia la 'doctrina Botín' y condena a Atutxa".El País(in Spanish). 2008-04-17.ISSN1134-6582.Retrieved2018-11-06.
- ^La Clave:Basque High Court ruling on the "Atutxa case"(in Spanish)
- ^El País:El Supremo cambia la doctrina Botín y condena a Atutxa(in Spanish)
- ^"Estrasburgo condena a España por el 'caso Atutxa".El Plural(in Spanish).Retrieved2018-11-06.
- ^"El TS anula la sentencia que condenó a Atutxa, Knörr y Bilbao por desobediencia tras el fallo del TEDH".Confilegal(in Spanish). 2019-10-29.Retrieved2019-10-29.
- ^Lukor:El Rey y políticos vascos como San Gil y Atutxa, entre los objetivos de los etarras enviados a prisión(in Spanish)
External links
[edit]- Basque Parliament:Juan María Atutxa - Bio(in Spanish)
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