Egunkaria

"Egunkaria" ("The daily") was, for thirteen years, the only fully Basque language newspaper in circulation, until it was closed down on 20th February, 2003 by the Spanish authorities, due to allegations of an illegal association with ETA, the armed Basque terrorist group.

Egunkaria was established in 1990 as the first and only Basque-language daily newspaper in the Basque Country (there had already been bilingual newspaper and monolingual weeklies). It enjoyed a readership of an estimated 15,000 people and was a widely respected publication; the newspaper was also known for its nationalistic leanings.It was sold in both the French and Spanish parts of the Basque Country and its income from sales and advertising was complemented by subventions from the Basque Government.On 20th February, 2003, the Spanish Civil Guard on orders from the Audiencia Nacional raided the newspaper's offices, seized documents and computers, and froze the newspaper's assets. In addition, ten individuals who were or had been members of staff were arrested in dawn raids and held.

In December 2004, Iñaki Uria, Joan Mari Torrealdai, Txema Auzmendi, Xabier Alegria, Pello Zubira, Xabier Oleaga, and Martxelo Otamendi were arrested for forming an "illegal association" at the time of Egunkaria's establishment, and for "membership of, or collaboration with, ETA". All were later cleared of all charges, and released. The newspaper was also effectively forced into liquidation as its assets were sold off by Court-appointed administrators, meaning that regardless of the outcome of the case, Egunkaria had ceased to exist.

The closure of Egunkaria resulted in widepread criticism being directed towards the Spanish authorities. The writer Salman Rushdie denounced the closure as "appalling", and the English newspaper The Independent made a small but symbolic financial donation towards the opening of the new Basque language publication, Berria.

A similar accusation had closed the bilingual (Spanish-Basque) nationalist leftist newspaper Egin, whose niche was occupied by Gara.

References

* [http://www.englishpen.org/writersintranslation/magazineofliteratureintranslat/basquecountry/martxelootamendi/ Martxelo Otamendi's allegations of torture]
* [http://www.article19.org/pdfs/press/spain-egunkaria-14.11.2005.pdf Freedom of expression group ARTICLE 19's criticisms]
*Basque newspaper Berria covers [http://www.berria.info/english/ikusi.php?id=501 Salman Rushdie's participation]

External links

* [http://www.javierortiz.net/voz/egunkaria "Juicio a Egunkaria"] - Spanish language blog on the trial to the Basque newspaper by L. Fernández, one of its journalists.