The case of released Basque prisoner Inaki de Juana Chaos gives cause for concern. Inaki de Juana Chaos was a member of the Basque paramilitary separatist group Euskadi Ta Askatasuna (Eta). He was convicted of killing 25 people in 1987 and was sentenced to 3,000 years in prison. However as a result of complicated judicial guidelines on sentencing, he became eligible for release in late 2004 having only served 17 years. However, the Spanish Government prevented his release and he eventually participated in a lengthy hunger strike. He was eventually released in August of this year. The extent of the political acrimony towards him in the senior echelons of the Spanish government is evidenced by comments made by Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero. Zapatero said of De Jauana Chaos release that he "generates a perfectly understandable feeling of contempt" among all citizens "and of course the head of the government", adding, "But we must respect the law."

It is clear however that Spain has not finished its business with De Jauana Chaos who is now believed to be in Ireland. In the latest twist a Spanish judge, Eloy Velasco, has now asked Interpol to find de Juana Chaos in Ireland. His alleged crime is that he wrote a letter from prison in which he expressed opinions which breach a Spanish law of making an apology for terrorism".

The case of de Jauna Chaos is intriguing in that his apparent misdemeanour is 'thought crime' i.e. to have a point of view and express those thoughts. In addition, although he was a closely observed political prisoner, he was apparently able to do this and transmit those views from a high security prison and these increduously went unnoticed until he had left Spain and sought refuge in Ireland.

One would have thought that these points together with the (previously mentioned) political intervention of such a senior figure as the Spanish Prime Minister would have given pause for thought to Interpol - but apparently not.

Scrutiny of the web pages of Interpol (The International Criminal Police Organisation) seems to indicate that the organisation has guidelines proscribing its involvement in politically motivated fugitive apprehension requests and its mission statement does say that action should only be "taken within the limits of existing laws in different countries and in the spirit of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights". INTERPOLs constitution also prohibits any intervention or activities of a political, military, religious or racial character.

However, the organisation is sometimes selective in how assiduously it pursues fugitives. For example it diligently initiated a request from the Colombian government to apprehend three Irish nationals suspected of links to Farc but it was less forthcoming in pursuing several key French security service operatives allegedly linked to the New Zealand 'Rainbow Warrior' murder who although there identity is well known have never been apprehended.

Interpol were also reticent when we asked why it was doing nothing to publicise the global concerns about the United States governments practise of extraordinary rendition (see link):

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Like the Spanish government whose human rights record has been questioned and Inaki de Juana Chaos who served a lengthy prison term, Interpol also has had a chequered past. From 1938 until 1945 'the International Criminal Police', a body which had been founded in Austria in the 1920s, was headed, in the 1940s, by two notorious Nazis, Reinhard Heydrich the infamous 'butcher of Prague and following his assassination, Artur Nebe a former Einsatzgruppe leader responsible for tens of thousands of deaths of innocent civilians in Belarus.

Interpol however has moved on from its bad old Nazi past and we were assured some years ago by its Secretary General, Ronald K. Noble, that:

"Interpol is not a political tool of member governments and is governed by a Constitution - Article three of which states: It is strictly forbidden for the Organization to undertake any intervention or activities of a political, military, religious or racial character".

We were also told by Rutsel MARTHA, General Counsel Office of Legal Affairs for Interpol:

"In addition whenever an individual alleges the political character of his case, the General Secretariat conducts simultaneously an exchange of views with the NCB concerned and controls the information contained in its database with a view to assessing whether or not that NCB had "undertake(n) any intervention or activit(y) of a political (....) character", which would be "strictly forbidden" under Article 3 of Interpol's Constitution. Rest assured that Interpol remains deeply committed to ensuring the respect of its Constitution".

We trust that Interpol will remain true to its constitution and that before arrest warrants were issued for Inaki de Juana Chaos steps were taken to ascertain that this case was not 'political' in character.

Independent information on Interpol at:

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International Criminal Police website at:

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Link to report on the hunt for Jose Ignacio de Juana Chaos here (Sunday Times Irish edition):

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J B Moffatt

Director of Information Celtic League

27/09/08