My name is Andrej Hunko. I am a member of the German Bundestag for the left party DIE LINKE since 2009 and also member of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE, www.coe.int). I have had the opportunity to work in favor of the Basque peace process in the last years in Germany, mainly promoting the Aiete Declaration. I've also supported the Declaration "On the Path to Peace", presented last March (http://onthepathtopeace.eu/), because I believe that a new era has opened in these last two years and that the Spanish Government should take steps to support the peace process. One of those steps should be a change of its Prison Policy.

The visit to Arnaldo Otegi

I have wanted to visit Arnaldo Otegi for some time. I have made several attempts to visit the representative of the Abertzale Left, but I was refused on my first attempt and I couldn't come on a second attempt for agenda difficulties. This time I have had to overcome several difficulties: at first I was granted permission, then it was withdrawn and granted again. It seems that finally I'll be able to speak with Arnaldo Otegi tomorrow in the prison of Logroño.

3.The objectives of the visit

The main objective of this visit is to get insights to the current political situation in the Basque Country and to the status of the peace process. Through this visit I want to support the peace process and show my solidarity with one of its most important figures, Arnaldo Otegi. I cannot but note that the trials against him as well as many other trials against representatives of the Abertzale Left appear to be politically motivated trials.

The latest ruling of the European Court of Human Rights has to be understood as a positive sign for the respect of Human Rights and as a window of opportunity to move forward on the resolution of the conflict. The respect of all the prisoners' rights should be the next logical step to keep moving for the resolution of the conflict in the Basque region.

I would like to invite the Spanish Government to abandon its current attitude and to move forward to a dialogue model to resolve the conflict and its consequences, to achieve the situation of respect of human rights desired by society.