February 2023 will be the date on which Pablo González Yagüe, a journalist who
covered the war in Ukraine for La Sexta as a collaborator, will serve one year inprison in Poland. Accused of espionage, the Prosecutor's Office has not providedany new evidence that could incriminate him during these months in which thePolish justice has denied that the reporter was assisted by the lawyer heappointed from the beginning. He faces up to ten years in prison. ---- The firstnews that Ohiana Goiriena, Pablo's wife, had of the events came at seven in themorning on February 28, 2022. "She told me that the Polish intelligence serviceshad detained him, that he was in his dependencies and to notify his lawyer", heaffirms. The defender he is referring to is Gonzalo Boyer, a lawyer who has beenassisting the journalist since he suffered an "incident" with the Ukrainianservices on the 4th of the same month, at which time they questioned him, checkedhis passport and duplicated his identity cards. credit. "They also invited him toleave Ukraine because they understood that he was reporting the war from apro-Russian profile," says Goiriena.Since then, three days have passed in which Pablo was, for his relatives andclose friends, disappeared. "We didn't know anything, not where he was or if theywere treating him well," adds his wife. At that time, his closest circle began tocontact the Spanish consulate in Poland. The diplomatic corps had no officialconfirmation that he was detained.Finally, they were able to witness it. The Spanish consul told them where Pablowas and, seven days later, what he was accused of: espionage, a crime that,depending on the seriousness of the facts, can be punished with up to ten yearsin prison according to the Polish penal code."We began to request visitation permits so that his lawyer could see him, as wellas phone calls, but they denied us everything, not even Boyer was allowed to takecharge of the case," adds Goiriena. In this way, the first moments Pablo wasassisted by a public defender, although the closest circle of him does not knowif she really came to visit him in prison. His wife adds that they do not know ifshe resigned as a lawyer or Pablo challenged her. Then another lawyer arrivedwhose name they don't even know.Accused of espionage, the Prosecutor's Office has not provided any new evidencethat could incriminate him during the long year in which the Polish justice hasdenied that the reporter was assisted by his lawyer. He faces up to ten years inprison.Thus, Pablo was defenseless for a month and a half, without a public defender orindividual who could assist him in this judicial process for which he could faceup to a decade in prison. In mid-April and seeing that Boyer was not allowed tointervene as a lawyer, Pablo's circle obtained a lawyer who assisted him untilOctober.The journalist, for his part, does not stop suffering the hardships of prison,either in the first prison he went through until May, or in the jail where he iscurrently. "He is incommunicado. He can't make calls except to his lawyer and hehasn't been able to talk to his family yet. Boyer continues to be deniedpermission to see him and until November he has not had any visit permit, "saysGoiriena.In fact, last November 21 was the first meeting between Pablo and his wife: "Weknow that our letters do reach you, but between two and three months late. Theyopen them, read them and censor them, and the same thing happens with the ones hewrites, because they come to us with a red stamp after censorship", she maintains.The daily torture of the prisonThe conditions in prison are based on being locked up in the cell for 23 hours aday and the remaining hour in a yard measuring seven by four meters. And now thatwinter is coming, he can't even go out those 60 minutes in which he can breathesome air because not even with all the clothes he is allowed to have, he is notable to withstand the Polish cold. Goiriena herself stresses that "they don'tturn on the heating and it's not that they provide her with thermal clothing,it's that they have always refused us the possibility of sending her clothes fromabroad."Time passes and it seems that the first advances have arrived since in Septemberhis closest circle reinforced the defense team. "In any case, for everything wehave to ask for permits and they even deny us those that would allow us to buybasic things like vitamins because the prison menu is deficient in all aspects,"says Pablo's wife.The legal status, on the other hand, has not changed much since its inception,despite the fact that in February 2023 Pablo will serve a year in preventivedetention, with no date for an oral trial and without the lawyer he has decidedto defend him yet. The temporary prison, in principle, lasted three months, untilMay 29, 2022. "Two days before the term expired, the court extended it foranother three months by accepting the arguments of the Prosecutor's Office andrejecting the allegations on our part, so he continued to be imprisoned untilAugust", explains Goiriena.no new evidenceThis procedure was repeated again: the judge accepted what the Prosecutor'sOffice claimed and rejected the allegations made by the reporter's defense. ThePublic Ministry also defends that Pablo has a high risk of flight, if he werereleased he could hinder the investigation, he faces a very high sentence andthey strongly suspect that he is guilty of the crime. Those are the argumentsused by the Polish Prosecutor's Office for the journalist to be jailed for ayear, despite the fact that he has not provided new evidence that couldincriminate the informant for the crime of which he is accused. The sameprocedure was given in November, so Pablo, at least, will continue in prisonuntil February 28, 2023.Goiriena also stresses that "espionage" is the criminal offense of which he isaccused, but there is no formal or specific accusation. "The evidence they havecame out at the beginning, as soon as they arrested him. They said that he hadtwo false passports, but it was a lie. Pablo has dual Russian and Spanishnationality, and those are his two legal identities, "emphasizes his wife.She herself also spoke about the accusation that Pablo received money from Russiaon a regular basis, "and it is true, but because his father has some income inthat country and sends him part of the earnings," in her own words. terms. Inaddition, Goiriena defends that they have all the necessary documents to prove it."They also said that he took advantage of his status as a journalist to travel toplaces of conflict, and this accusation does leave me much more perplexed,because it is not a lie. Obviously, if he is a war reporter, he is going to go toplaces of conflict to do his work, "explains the wife of the imprisoned journalist.Without help from the Spanish GovernmentThe response of the Government of Spain to what happened is not being as Pablo'sfamily expected. Although relations with the Spanish consul in Poland are good,and even the diplomat has come to empathize with the situation, he does not haveany type of power to exert political pressure, only at an administrative level."And we do miss that pressure. They tell us that the diplomatic work of theGovernment has to be carried out with discretion, but he is already going toserve a year in jail and we have not seen any results, "Goiriena explains.In fact, the statements by Pedro Sánchez and José Manuel Albares, the ForeignMinister, do not help Pablo much either, says his wife. "At first they came outsowing suspicion. Then, Sánchez said that they would respect Polish legality justas he would want Spanish justice to be respected. The problem is that thelegality of Poland is not above the Charter of Human Rights of the EuropeanUnion, and they are not respecting it", she relates herself.The CNI intimidates the mediaThis lukewarm attitude of the Spanish Executive does not differ too much fromthat carried out by the large Spanish media. "There is a very clear differencebetween journalism in the Basque Country and Catalonia and the rest of Spain.Here they are very on top of the case, but in Spain, with the exception ofPúblico, the media are very silent, "adds Goiriena. And she adds: "I know of somemedia outlets that received calls from the Spanish National Intelligence Centerasking them not to get involved in this, that it was not convenient for them andto keep a low profile."The contrast with the personal support that many journalists have shown is clear.In addition, Goiriena has received the encouragement of various professional andunion groups. "Now we are going to start a crowdfunding because up to now I havebeen able to meet the expenses thanks to a family loan, but this is going to takea long time and we need more financial support," concludes Pablo's wife, callingfor solidarity to face such a injustice.Write to Pablo to show your supportPablo González Yagüe, s. AlexeiaA.S.Radomul. Wolanowska 12026-600 RADOMPOLAND/POLSKAAnd if you want to send us a copy, you can send it to us at:info@whatsomos.orgTell him what you want, talk without limit. And remember to tell him that hedoesn't need to reply, so he doesn't feel overwhelmed by having to reply if hegets a lot of letters (we hope he does!).https://www.cnt.es/noticias/pablo-gonzalez-el-periodista-encarcelado-al-que-el-gobierno-espanol-da-la-espalda/_________________________________________A - I N F O S N E W S S E R V I C EBy, For, and About AnarchistsSend news reports to A-infos-en mailing listA-infos-en@ainfos.ca
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