Basque Parliament declares that there are no 'political prisoners'

The Basque Parliament approved on Thursday a resolution that states categorically that there are not "political prisoners" neither in the Basque Country, nor in Spain, and for that reason it rejects "strongly" the use of this term to describe members of ETA serving sentences in Spanish prisons.

The resolution was a proposal presented by the conservative party PP with the support of the socialist party PSE-EE, that was also backed in the chamber by UPyD.

Basque nationalist left-wing coalition EH Bildu voted against the resolution and the ruling party PNV abstained, after saying that this kind of debates does not help the peace and coexistence working party in the Basque chamber.

There was an intense political debate in the 75-seat parliament with terms such as "handbook murderers" or "freedom fighters".

The resolution states that the ETA inmates are in prison following "crimes typified in the Spanish Penal Code" and that Basques and Spaniards live in a rule of law that "guarantees completely the rights and freedoms of the citizens".