Overview
- The Basque Justice Department has approved third-degree semiliberty for Arkaitz Agirrebariria and applied article 100.2 daytime releases to Juan Luis Rubenach, allowing both expanded time outside custody.
- Under the measures Agirrebariria will sleep in Basauri prison only Monday through Thursday while living outside the rest of the week, and Rubenach will remain in second degree but may leave prison Monday to Friday for work, training or volunteer activities.
- Agirrebariria was convicted for the 2010 killing of French officer Jean-Serge Nèrin and Rubenach was convicted for the 2000 murder of Lieutenant Colonel Pedro Antonio Blanco among other attacks.
- Basque officials justified the decisions with penitentiary technical reports that cite incident-free permits, adequate prison conduct, family support, a confirmed job offer for Agirrebariria and written expressions of remorse.
- Victims’ groups sharply condemned the moves as unjust and a possible covert amnesty while critics point to a wider pattern of third-degree grants and 100.2 applications since the Basque administration took over regional prisons.