At the end of April, Spain released Lucio García Blanco, 75, and María José Baños, 61, after 30 and 23 years behind bars. Both were imprisoned for alleged involvement in the First of October Antifascist Resistance Group (GRAPO), an anti-fascist organizatiom whose armed activity lasted from 1976 to 2006.
Baños’s case drew international attention to the conditions of long-term political prisoners in Spanish jails after the gravely ill prisoner’s release was repeatedly denied solely because she refused to “repent” and renounce the organization.
In March, over 50 cultural figures, including Javier Bardem and Luis Tosar, and 40 international lawyers petitioned for her release, following grassroots campaigns by advocacy groups. The demand was also raised inside prisons, including by ten Basque prisoners who launched rotating 24-hour protest fasts and by Marcos Martín Ponce who went on an indefinite hunger strike on February 22.
Despite early release, Baños is said to remain at risk of premature death due to her multiple untreated health complications.
Blanco, who suffers from Alzheimer’s disease and severe torture-caused back injuries, was released only because his 30-year-sentence ended. Like Baños, he refused to “repent.”
