was responsible for the deaths of more than $800.00 people. the basque separatist organization disbanded in may 2018 but a number of the organizations members known as us are still in jail. the spanish government is now gradually releasing them. i got out today many of us are still behind boss until all of them come home we have achieved nothing. what do the relatives of those who died in a to attack say. and i was at the pool this summer and lying next to me on a towel was the man who killed my mother. i see him all the time was. there.

we're in bilbao the largest city in the basque country. relatives of prisoners are waiting for a bus that will take them to the jail where their loved ones are being held. 221 prisoners are held in facilities all across spain far away from their families. for years the relatives have been demanding that the prisoners be transferred to the basque country particularly now that no longer exists. it's those e. travels once a month to visit her partner. it's those he makes the trip with her mother in 2 children her partner is in prison and caught his province about 1000 kilometers away in southern spain. the couple's relationship began as pen pals while he was already in jail. she conceived her children with him their.

get up yes and that is but. that's how i met him it's always been like this the restrictions and the distance have been part of our relationship from the outset it's become routine for me and with the children i hardly have time to think about it but you have no idea how exhausting these trips are until they one day come to an end. it's like i have 3 children to take care of my 2 kids and my partner closeness me. but so is his partner was arrested in 2008 charged with involvement in the murder of a basque businessman and sentenced to 44 years in prison it's josie considers him a freedom fighter. only 78 or prisoners are being held in the basque country. 89 are imprisoned within a radius of 700 kilometers and 125 have been sent to jail that are up to

1050 kilometers away. is enough amounting to the policy of scattering the prisoners around the country is clearly directed against the families we have to make a real effort to visit them. but the bottom line is that they're still in jail it doesn't matter where it would be a lot easier for us if the prisons were closer to the basque country. and. the trip takes 15 hours the buses transporting prisoners relatives to various facilities around southern spain some of the buses have been involved in road accidents. 16 family members have been killed while travelling to see prisoners rather. get in the know even though it was highly while. you can't imagine all this unless

you've done it yourself but a bit of that is our fault when people ask you about it you just act like everything's ok but it's not this is hard work and it wears you out so much i mean it is not we're just the family members i chose my partner but my children didn't choose their father. in other families it's the fathers or the mothers or their sons there's nothing we can do about it. but we're paying the price and we don't understand why you know so this is the last one that. the next morning after 15 hours on the road it says iraq is at the high security prison near the city of conti's. the bus stops only briefly to let them alight at sos he is tired and she has several appointments today with her partner. were not

allowed to film inside the facility. like almost all 18 members its partners held in top security imprisonment subject to strict conditions including solitary confinement. he's allowed to spend just 4 hours a day in the prison yard. at 7 30 in the evening at so as he returns from her visit. she was allowed to spend the last hour alone with her partner the children and her mother are waiting at the bus on the side of the road one knows when coming early it's difficult but so are other relationships in the distance and the restrictions on communication are hard but i think we still have a healthy relationship we try to give our children as much love and affection as we can and make maximum use of the time available i'm happy and i've never regretted my decision not for a moment. ah

. for more than 50 years later fought for an independent basque state killing hundreds of people. in may 28th the organization officially announced that it would disband and apologized for its actions. but many in spain dismissed the move as just a propaganda ploy. to had already declared a cease fire in 2011 at that time 559 members were still in prison. their current number is about half that a growing number of prisoners have been released after serving their sentences. it's june 28th. because partner will be released later in the day after completing a year jail term. wright said her son spent the night in

a hotel nearby and they plan to meet her partner when he gets out. there may be well. i'm afraid i was going to be leaving right now to pick up and we were going to wait for him outside the prison but then he called and said he'd already been left out so we're off the last few days have been really stressful. i'm in a very i'm a little less nervous today but it's coming back now. we've been waiting for him for 15 years that's a long time you so much has happened. at the age of 23 and a hard saying he was involved in riots that were said to have been started by. he said some bank machines on fire. the authorities called it politically motivated vandalism but the actual charge against him was cooperating with

a terrorist organization. areas. oh my god indeed. just leave the car here. so he say hello by kicking me here. are you mere carefully and then we thought. that the plan another. almost thought. was. i'm so happy right now.

i'm definitely going to need time to process all this. there are just too many emotions all at once. everyone. in some of those past political prisoners spend a lot of time in solitary confinement just 4 hours a day in the yard sometimes less. so i'm overwhelmed to see all these people are today. but i just. wrote my girl will get up i can't find my emotions right now i didn't think it was going to be like this. i thought i'd cry but i haven't reacted properly yet i can't figure it out i see him here in the parking lot but i still can't believe that now when i get out there oh yeah. that's when i was. on the one hand i'm extremely

happy. but i'm also still concerned about my comrades will have to stay behind bars for years to come it's hard for them and for their families. but for me gus. and eco wants to raise awareness of the air to members who are still in prison. there are some representatives here today from a shelter an association that campaigns for the rights of the prisoners. they're also here to shoot some videos in the parking lot. was. still on that i guess people hang up this flag to symbolize our demand that prisoners in fugitive should be allowed to return home and the editor has disbanded. our group except the times have changed and editor has acknowledged the suffering that it cost the medical. class we're now cooperating with the

spanish judiciary. we'll see whether the government is prepared to ease prison conditions. that. this is ending because hometown al gore to. the local residents are preparing to welcome him back. former aide to president as are celebrated as heroes by many in the basque country almost half of the men who are still in jail have not committed violent crimes there for. family say the lengthy prison sentences are a form of retribution. for what i'm going to find out what are the laws against a tower designed to serve as a deterrent. a 15 year prison sentence is much too harsh for an hour if you committed the same crime in quaker surveiled court a bar or bought a os you'd get a milder sentence. about it if you were going to go away for your. past political prisoners are systematically persecuted the people here today are celebrating because for one person for suffering is over. there so many are saying we don't

want to offend anybody. but this is like a holiday for us that it has given. many basques who lost friends or family members and attacks say the celebrations are an insult to the memory of the victims. consuelo or dawn years as president of the victims association. in 1905 her brother was gunned down here in the city of san sebastiano. she herself was threatened and had to leave town. since then consuelo has rarely returned to son sebastiaan she still haunted by the loss of her brother. was 37 years old when he was killed. he was the city's deputy mayor and a member of the conservative people's party he was an outspoken opponent of h.r.

and its political wing. is that i don't they they murdered my brother and outside a bar on this street. in a moment i don't. think that our central a terrorist shot him in the back of the head. gregorio left behind a wife and a child. many were outraged by his murder and not only in the basque country. it was a bloody era in which carried out such crimes on an almost weekly basis. consuela says that even though 8 a has disbanded its political ideology is still widespread and a lot of people respect the organization. she's also skeptical of demands for the eta prisoners to be transferred to jails in the basque country look at me then ask

if they want the prisoners to be released and they ask why they were sent to jail in the 1st place they believe that they were killing ideological enemies. scene of that if every prisoner promised to renounce violence we'd have no problem with them being moved to the basque country but they won't do that and. it's a red line for them it is fun they have no regrets about it. for decades it has murderous armed struggle terrorized the basque country an estimated 830 people were killed. the last murder took place in 2009 and nearly 40 percent of these crimes have not yet been officially salt. consuela believes that many former aide to members and their supporters simply want to forget the past.

is they just want to turn back the clock like nothing happened we see it every day at the celebrations for the prisoners who have been released. within that. there are children in those crowds and they learned early on to respect these terrorists who have blood on their hands. and to be proud of what they did at. first this creates really dangerous conditions for the future. the time for. the people of al gore to welcome andy kelly hart's ag as a victim of spanish revenge justice. many of the young people attending the celebrations today were not even born when he was sentenced to prison.

you know i got out today but many of us are still behind bars and until all of them come home we have achieved nothing. going up. thank. you i getting i i i i. the event culminates in a kind of ceremony in this bar where photographs of all local 8 up prisoners are displayed. now that endicott is free his portrait is taken down. i. release the rest of them there were yeah oh yeah.

meanwhile. has returned from her visit to the prison. she lives with her parents near bilbao. who's that for then. who is that for. like many relatives of the prisoners it says he hoped that after the end of the conditions of their imprisonment would be relaxed. her partner still has 40 years to serve he's made several appeals to be transferred to a jail closer to his family all have been rejected. that if they don't come here every time we make concessions the authorities put up new obstacles. ended the arms struggle and then the government demanded that they surrender their weapons. started to do that the government then ordered the organization to break itself up and ask for forgiveness and they'll probably come up with more demands.

it so these mother had a hard time dealing with the fact that her daughter's partner would be in prison for decades have been happy if you know i didn't like it at 1st but it's her life after all and i have to support her because she couldn't do all this by herself but science he's a nice guy i can't complain. that says he's partner and the father of her children is an intricate part of the family even though he has never lived with them he's in jail more than 1000 kilometers away and i saw only one and that's the years aren't great because they were taken in prison but when i was they mean a lot to me they represent the few moments that we were able to spend together and . my daughter loves her father a lot. we

. boast about. them and serve out. my daughter knows that her father is in prison because he fought for an independent basque state. and that we have no idea when he'll be released. she hasn't asked me a lot of questions about it. if she wants to know more one day she'll have to ask her father. and have a. yes or no i don't think about the future i live from one day to the next he'll be in prison for the next 40 years so i can't think about the future. let's just wait and see how things turn out.

in bilbao father on hell maria has been working for years to try to bring the victims and perpetrators together including their respective relatives. the aim is for the 2 sides to try to understand each other. let us pray. father help us to show mercy and compassion. taught us along the path of peace so that your will may be done here on a. sunday when. you know. the end of it opens up a new chapter we have to build on the situation cautiously but with determination. if you're going to these developments explain why many basques are now calling for

the prison restrictions to be east because it are no longer exists as those people if you're lucky yeah it that all the holy places the. dear father whose wate meets with relatives of victims. and hernandez lost her husband. will say that his father. and even ramos his mother and they discussed the government's policy on 8 are prisoners. just one of the what should we do with the prisoners you know don't ask me that i can't make a decision like that i don't have any authority. on this is this seems like i've always said that the prisoner should be transferred and those who are seriously ill can be released. later i'm going to write the policy of scattering the prisoners all over the place makes no sense. to me it's just

more punishment for the relatives. but it stopped and did violates the basic human rights of the family. on the alleged familiar. but the fact that more and more data prisoners have now been released and have returned home is a major challenge for the victim's relatives and you know. a lot of it all was at the pool this summer and lying. next to me on a towel was the man who killed my mother. i see him all the times but i try not to pass the hatred to my son. i would never tell him that this man murdered his grandmother. you know in many cases it's still hard for me to see that man every day. he really authority earlier. but it is. more and more of the prisoners will be released after they've served their

sentences i think that everyone deserves a 2nd chance. but i hope that they'll take a long hard look at themselves and gain some insight on the. process. and to calais heartsick never killed anyone so there's no chance that he will have a confrontation with the relatives of a victim. he's been out of prison for 10 weeks now. after 15 years behind bars he's learning again how to make decisions for himself. it's the only one of the not the only one so far i haven't noticed any permanent psychological damage from my time in prison. i've been quite lucky. i have a partner a family and friends who support me when. we were not. and still adjusting to life outside of prison right now he's studying for aptitude

tests with a view to finding a job in the public health service. as an ex prisoner he has better prospects to find work there then he would in the private sector. but he can't stop thinking about the other prisoners and struggle for independence. and i spent 15 years of my life in prison. during that time i did a lot of thinking. around what i did worth it i think it was worthwhile to fight for an independent basque state for a better society. it was a political conflict and it still is and until we come up with a political solution the conflict will continue. no longer exists but can the supporters and opponents of the organization learn to

live together in peace. it would mean the former members having to show true remorse and the relatives of the victims having to learn to forgive. i wish that we could find a solution it won't happen overnight but if we want to live together and move ahead with the peace process both sides will have to come together and try to understand what everyone has gone through. the spanish government has now announced the 1st transfers of prisoners to jails in the basket. a response to the dissolution of beta and possibly an important step in the process of reconciliation.

the last of their kind. of whole species on the brink of extinction a garden gnomes are dying off. their natural habitat is under threat. and they have very few safe haven flooded. is it already too late for the garden gnomes. to romance next month g.w. . view is clear as mud i don't want to get close to nature

i want to dive right it matters just one the conflicts change on the evidence of the much flash. exploring. planet failing. which speaking by a cambrian last thing may cause specializing in enjoying had found. 30 minutes d.w. . form. for. strine it early in the global tourist guide function is booming capital i love berlin the scope of the multicultural metropolis you know where your remarks series finale but it's not like the terms of the name i love the german was sure it was a system looks like such a swiss like me inside says the 15 nations 50 story. and 50 very personal

tips on berlin's very best new jersey the food. now for lamb every week on d. w. . comes.