Overview
- The Basque executive has authorized applying article 100.2 of the penitentiary rules to Gorka Palacios and Joanes Larretxea, a step that would let them leave prison on weekdays for work, treatment or volunteer activities.
- Both men are long‑convicted ETA members: Palacios faces multi‑decade sentences for deadly car bombs and attacks and Larretxea was convicted for the 2008 murder of businessman Ignacio Uría and a later car‑bomb conviction.
- Those administrative authorizations do not take immediate effect because the judge of Vigilancia Penitenciaria at the Audiencia Nacional must review and approve each 100.2 application before day‑leave begins.
- Victims’ groups including AVT and Covite sharply condemned the moves, labeled the measures fraudulent in some statements, and demanded political accountability including calls for the regional justice minister’s resignation.
- Officials and media note the decisions form part of a wider pattern of penal flexibilizations for ETA inmates, with reporting and victim tallies pointing to dozens to hundreds of progressions and transfers that are fueling national debate and potential legal challenges.