Tuesday, March 18, 2008

Itoiz Dam prisoners

It's correct. The sentence expired, so Julio left prison 5th December. Obviously, the sentence expired too for the other five who were in 'capture order'.

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2008/3/18, ELP Support Network <elp4321@hotmail.com>:

Does anyone know if the Spanish Itoiz dam prisoners are still inside?

Someone has just told me "as far as I know [because] Julio was arrested more than 5 years after being sentenced, [the sentence has expired], so he was released a few months later."

Does anyone know if this is correct? Are all the Itoiz Dam defendants free because the sentence has expired, even though some of them are still 'on the run'?

For those who don't know. Back in the late 1990s a group of eco-activists sabotaged the controversial Itoiz Dam, causing so much damage they delayed its construction for a whole year!

The police accused a local environmentalist group, who were legally campaigning against the dam, of being involved with the sabotage. Knowing they wouldn't get a fair trial all of the defendants went on the run. However despite the fact they didn't have any defendants, the Spanish Authorities held their trial anyway and surprise surprise, without any defendants to plead not guilty everyone was found guilty and sentenced to just under 5 years inside.

Since then 3 of the defedants have been caught and as far as I was aware one of the defendants, Julio, still had a number of years to serve, with a second person, Ibai, having a year or so left to serve. But it sounds like they might be out!

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