Sinn Féin MLA Pat Sheehan has welcomed the decision by the French government that it will start moving Basque prisoners to jails close to the Basque Country.

Jean-Noël Etcheverry, Txetx, one of the artisans of peace involved in ETA’s disarmament and in the relations between the Basque delegation and the French government announced on January 13th that the French Government doesn’t oppose a process of moving Basque prisoners to the prisons of Mont-de-Marsan and Lannemezan and that these transfers will begin in a few weeks.

Last 13th January Bilbao hosted a new massive demonstration – 95,000 people, according to the count of GARA and NAIZ – in favour of Human Rights and peace, to drive forward the resolution of the conflict and to demand an end to the violation of Basque political prisoners’ and their relatives’ rights. in a day marked by the news that the French Government will bring the prisoners closer to the Basque Country in the coming weeks. The representatives of Sare (Civil Society organisation) have demanded the end of the use and abuse of the law as a political weapon and have stressed that they will not take a step back until the prisoners get back home.

Basque public television’s show “Ur Handitan” dealt with the issue of backpack kids (boys and girls with the father, the mother or both in prison) in a programme broadcast on the 10th January. The show had an audience of 7.8% and reached an accumulated audience of 112,000 spectators.