By A.C.
Madrid, February 27, 2015: Just 24 hours after the National Police detained eight Spaniards for their involvement in the conflict in eastern Ukraine, the Madrid Committee to Support Antifascists in Ukraine confirmed it is sending a new internationalist brigade to the Donbass and has posted a video on YouTube calling for participation, either physically or through collaboration.
The activists will form part of the second Antifascist Caravan of Banda Bassotti, as they did on the first one, which was in Ukrainian lands last September. They will travel to the Donbass for humanitarian work in May.
The goal, organizers explained, is “to bring our solidarity to the people of Donbass who heroically resist the fascist onslaught” and deliver basic necessities, but also to denounce “media manipulation” and the role of the U.S. and NATO in the political conflict.
The caravan, which is scheduled to arrive on May 9 — a symbolic date which coincides with the 70th anniversary of Victory Day over Nazi Germany – has at least a dozen volunteers from the Spanish state comprising the “Rubén Ruiz Ibárruri Brigade,” in homage to the Spanish partisan, son of “La Pasionaria.”
Some of them also traveled to eastern Ukraine during the summer, including Ramiro who, in an interview with DISOpress on his return, recounted his experience in Lugansk and described the situation in Ukraine as “an authentic medieval warfare.”
Eight arrested for fighting in Ukraine, accused of murder, sedition and attacking the interests of Spain
The detainees are eight citizens from Asturias, Catalonia, Extremadura, Madrid, Murcia and Navarre who allegedly fought with the Donbass people’s militias and are now accused of murder, possession of weapons and explosives, and attacking Spain’s interests abroad, among other charges.
Although many details of the case are still unknown, it appears that the first of the offenses could be based on their collaboration with groups that have participated in combat, while the second would be based on pictures and videos posted by defendants on their own social networks showing them armed.
It is in any case difficult behavior to try as crime under Spanish law that, in principle, does not provide civil or criminal punishment for voluntary participation in a foreign war. Proof of this is the recruitment of Spaniards by private security companies operating in conflict zones and using heavy weaponry, a common practice in Spain and widely known by the government.
Neither is it clear that it can be considered a criminal offense for the Spanish volunteers to have participated in the Ukrainian conflict on the side of so-called “pro-Russian separatists,” because none of the militias on this side are considered terrorist organizations by the United Nations.
‘Solidarity is not a crime‘
“Solidarity is not a crime.” These words closed the press conference held by the Madrid Support Committee for Antifascists in Ukraine this afternoon to show their support and solidarity with the eight detained volunteers, and demand their immediate release without charge.
“Contrary to the lies and accusations by some media,” the Support Committee for Antifascists in Ukraine “is not, nor is it intended to be, any sort of recruiting office,” said their statement, which also defended the actions of the Committee and the brigades which, they say, “are based on solidarity” and “seek to provide humanitarian aid.”
The Committee also used the event to denounce “the hypocrisy of the media,” to whom “the genocide of civilians in eastern Ukraine does not seem relevant,” and the “cynicism” of the Spanish government to “speak of neutrality, while directly and publicly working with the illegal Ukrainian government.”
The eight arrested yesterday morning were released with charges in late afternoon.
Red Star News + Translations 