Segi is a Basque

Basque people

The Basques as an ethnic group, primarily inhabit an area traditionally known as the Basque Country , a region that is located around the western end of the Pyrenees on the coast of the Bay of Biscay and straddles parts of north-central Spain and south-western France.The Basques are known in the...

 pro-independence and revolutionary left-wing organization. It forms part of the Basque National Liberation Movement

Basque National Liberation Movement

The Basque National Liberation Movement is an umbrella term that comprises all social, political and armed organizations orbiting around the ideas of the illegal armed organisation Euskadi Ta Askatasuna , proscribed internationally as a terrorist organisation.The wide variety of organizations and...

 and is aligned with Langile Abertzaleen Batzordeak

Langile Abertzaleen Batzordeak

LAB is a Basque nationalist trade union operating mainly in Spain currently led by Ainhoa Etxaide.It was created in 1974 by Jon Idigoras among others...

 and Batasuna

Batasuna

Batasuna was a Basque nationalist political party based mainly in Spain, where it was outlawed in 2003, after a court ruling declared proven that the party was financing ETA with public money. Batasuna is included in the "European Union list of terrorist persons and organizations" as a component...

.

Segi is proscribed as a terrorist organisation (as a member of ETA) by both the Spanish

Spain

Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

 and French

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 authorities as well as the European Union

European Union

The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...

 as a whole.
In its decision, on 27 February 2007, the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Justice

European Court of Justice

The Court can sit in plenary session, as a Grand Chamber of 13 judges, or in chambers of three or five judges. Plenary sitting are now very rare, and the court mostly sits in chambers of three or five judges...

 (ECJ) dismissed the appeal of the illegal Basque organisation "Gestoras Pro Amnistia" and Segi members against their dismissal by the European Council

European Council

The European Council is an institution of the European Union. It comprises the heads of state or government of the EU member states, along with the President of the European Commission and the President of the European Council, currently Herman Van Rompuy...

 with claims for damages suffered as a result of inclusion in the "terrorist list". The UK intervened with Spain – it was the only other EU state to do so, as a symbol of the support of the rest of the European Council.

Background

In 2002 Segi was classed as a "terrorist" organization by the Spanish National Court magistrate Judge Baltasar Garzón

Baltasar Garzón

Baltasar Garzón Real is a Spanish jurist who served on Spain's central criminal court, the Audiencia Nacional. He was the examining magistrate of the Juzgado Central de Instrucción No...

, thus banning it as a component of ETA

ETA

ETA , an acronym for Euskadi Ta Askatasuna is an armed Basque nationalist and separatist organization. The group was founded in 1959 and has since evolved from a group promoting traditional Basque culture to a paramilitary group with the goal of gaining independence for the Greater Basque Country...

.

Garzón had previously banned the two other Basque youth organizations that preceded Segi: Jarrai and Haika.

Spanish and other European courts have banned a number of ETA-related organizations such as newspapers – Egin

Egin (newspaper)

Egin was a Basque newspaper written in Spanish language and Basque language. It was published from Hernani by Orain SA, which also ran the radio station Egin Irratia.Its first issue was published on September 29, 1977....

(1998), Egunkaria

Egunkaria

Egunkaria was for thirteen years the only fully Basque language newspaper in circulation, until it was closed down on February 20, 2003 by the Spanish authorities, due to allegations of an illegal association with ETA, the armed Basque separatist group. After 7 years, on 15 April 2010 the...

 (2003); youth organisations – Jarrai (1999), Haika (2001), Segi (2002); prisoner associations – Askatasuna (2002) and Gestoras Pro-Amnistia (2003) and political parties such as Herri Batasuna (1997) and its successor Batasuna (2003). All those decisions have been based on the proved direct coordination of such organisations with ETA (i.e. the organisations have been declared "members of a terrorist group" and of "cooperation with terrorist groups" by helping in the recruitment of new members and supporting ETA's finances).

According to An Phoblacht

An Phoblacht

An Phoblacht is the official newspaper of Sinn Féin in Ireland. It is published once a month, and according to its website sells an average of up to 15,000 copies every month and was the first Irish paper to provide an edition online and currently having in excess of 100,000 website hits per...

the case descended into a farce when another judge in the Spanish National Court considered that Garzón’s arguments "were not valid" and released all the detainees. However another report suggests that the Supreme Court ruled they were a terrorist organization, but had not been placed on the country's terrorist list before the court's January 19 ruling.

Support from abroad

Ógra Shinn Féin

Ógra Shinn Féin

Ógra Shinn Féin is the youth wing of the Irish political party Sinn Féin. ÓSF is active and organised throughout Ireland. It is often considered the most prominent incarnation of Fianna Éireann. Upon its establishment in 1997 it was originally known as Sinn Féin Youth, it changed to Ógra Shinn...

 (the youth wing of political party Sinn Féin

Sinn Féin

Sinn Féin is a left wing, Irish republican political party in Ireland. The name is Irish for "ourselves" or "we ourselves", although it is frequently mistranslated as "ourselves alone". Originating in the Sinn Féin organisation founded in 1905 by Arthur Griffith, it took its current form in 1970...

), which maintains fraternal relations with Segi, has called for the "immediate release of our comrades in Euskal Herria". It has begun an online petition to demand the reversal of the decision to declare Segi to be an illegal and terrorist organization. The petition claims that the Spanish Government has "decided to brand a completely legitimate political group as terrorists in an attempt to subvert the ever present Basque national liberation struggle". It is also campaigning for the release of the National Executive of Segi, who were arrested on a protest and were sentenced to 6 years imprisonment. Ógra Shinn Féin has passed a motion in support of Segi at a recent congress, declaring their support.