Restorative justice in the aftermath of politically-motivated violence: the Basque experience

ABSTRACT

An emerging body of literature discusses how restorative justice can contribute to the response to terrorism. This paper expresses concerns about the uncritical acceptance of many orthodox assumptions about terrorism inherent in the search for a “restorative response” to terrorism. When restorative justice embraces the label “terrorism” in what appears to be a politically neutral sense, rather than opening up a critical discussion of realities of political violence and the factors that had propelled it, it may form part of the efforts designed to inculcate “truths” that help control political dissent. With its key aspiration being to restore a presumed healthy order disrupted by terrorist offences, restorative justice may be enlisted to help entrench social relations that led to the violence in the first place. The paper illustrates this danger by examining attempts to use restorative justice techniques by Spanish authorities in the aftermath of ETA or Euskadi Ta Askatasuna (“Basque Homeland and Freedom”) violence. It is argued that rather than searching for a “restorative response” to terrorism, a more adequate framework for restorative justice in the aftermath of politically motivated violence may be found within broader projects of reparation for historical injustices, remembering and political reconciliation.

KEYWORDS:

• Euskadi ta Askatasuna “Basque Homeland and Freedom(ETA) prisoners
• restorative justice
• reparation for historical injustices

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. The numbers of lives lost on both sides are disputed, yet ETA has admitted killing 758 people (The Guardian 2018). Euskal Memoria puts forward a list of 474 victims of the state repression (see Ormazabal Elola (2012) and Whitfield (2014a, 283) for a critique of this figure).

2. Following the collapse of Rajoy’s government in June 2018, the new Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez announced plans to start transferring ETA prisoners closer to their homes, and in August 2018 the first two prisoners were relocated. These developments were opposed by the Spanish political right and leading victims of terrorism associations who linked the transfers to the support of Basque nationalists for the no-confidence vote that brought Pedro Sánchez to power. In response, the new government has provided assurances that the prisoners will be relocated on an “individualised” basis, and there will be no progressions to the second or third “grade” regime allowing prisoners penitentiary benefits, let alone early releases. By December 2018, thirteen prisoners were brought closer to their homes and three others were classified in the “third” grade regime.

3. The adherence to the “conflict” narrative embodied in ETA’s apology produced controversy, as it made a distinction between “all victims” and the victims “with no responsibility in the conflict”. While ETA said “we are truly sorry” to all its victims, it only asked for forgiveness those “with no responsibility in the conflict” (Ormazabal and Díez 2018). ETA’s apology was immediately dismissed by the Association of Victims of Terrorism on the grounds that ETA used its apology to “dilute its real responsibility, justify its use of violence to impose its totalitarian project and manipulate history”.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Margarita Zernova

Margarita Zernova is a Lecturer in Criminology at the Universityof Hull, UK. She is the author of "Restorative Justice: Ideals andRealities" (Routledge) and various articles in the field of restorativejustice