Mertxe Aizpurua Arzallus (born 18 January 1960) is a

Basque Basque may refer to: * Basques, an ethnic group of Spain and France * Basque language, their language Places * Basque Country (greater region), the homeland of the Basque people with parts in both Spain and France * Basque Country (autonomous co ...

journalist and politician who currently serves as

Member of the Congress of Deputies The Congress of Deputies () is the lower house of the , Spain's legislative branch, the upper house being the Senate. The Congress meets in the Palace of the Parliament () in Madrid. Congress has 350 members elected from fifty-two constituencie ...

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

Early life

Aizpurua was born on 18 January 1960 in

Usurbil Usurbil () is a town and region located in the province of Gipuzkoa in the Autonomous Community of the Basque Country, in the North of Spain. It lies in an area well known for its sagardotegiak (cider houses) and the area adjacent to the river ...

, Basque Country. She has a Bachelor of Information Science degree.

Career

Aizpurua was editor of the ''

Egin Egin may refer to: * ''Egin'' (newspaper), a defunct bilingual Basque-Spanish newspaper * Eğin, the name for the town of Kemaliye, Turkey, until about 1923 * Egin, Idaho, United States, an unincorporated community * Yuri Egin, an anime-only cha ...

'' newspaper and '' Punto y Hora de Euskal Herria'' magazine. In September 1983 ''Punto y Hora'' published an

editorial An editorial, or leading article (UK) or leader (UK), is an article or any other written document, often unsigned, written by the senior editorial people or publisher of a newspaper or magazine, that expresses the publication's opinion about ...

Basque separatist Basque nationalism ( ; ; ) is a form of nationalism that asserts that Basques, an ethnic group indigenous to the western Pyrenees, are a nation and promotes the political unity of the Basques, today scattered between Spain and France. Since i ...

"soldiers" and an interview with a brother of an

ETA Eta ( ; uppercase , lowercase ; ''ē̂ta'' or ''ita'' ) is the seventh letter of the Greek alphabet, representing the close front unrounded vowel, . Originally denoting the voiceless glottal fricative, , in most dialects of Ancient Greek, it ...

separatist killed whilst handling an explosive device in

Tafalla Tafalla is a town and municipality located in the province and autonomous community of Navarre, northern Spain. Tafalla lies 30 km south of Pamplona, in the valley of the Zidacos river, which is a tributary of the Aragón. The population in Janua ...

Navarre Navarre ( ; ; ), officially the Chartered Community of Navarre, is a landlocked foral autonomous community and province in northern Spain, bordering the Basque Autonomous Community, La Rioja, and Aragon in Spain and New Aquitaine in France. ...

. In October 1984 the

Audiencia Nacional The Audiencia Nacional (; ) is a high court in Spain with jurisdiction over all of the Spanish territory. It is specialised in certain kinds of crime, having original jurisdiction over major crimes such as those committed against the Crown and i ...

convicted Aizpurua of "supporting terrorism" and sentenced her to one year in prison and barred her from working as a journalist for one year. Aizpurua was a journalist at the '' Gara'' newspaper since its establishment in 1999 and was a director from 1999 to 2004. In June 2001 she was interrogated by Audiencia Nacional judge

Baltasar Garzón Baltasar Garzón Real (; born 26 October 1955) is a Spanish former judge in Spain's central criminal court, the '' Audiencia Nacional'' responsible for investigation the most serious criminal cases, including terrorism, organised crime, crimes ...

after ''Gara'' published an interview with two ETA leaders. The case against Aizpurua was finally dropped in March 2004. Aizpurua is currently director of ''Garas ''7K'' Sunday newspaper. She is the author of ''Argala: Pensamiento en Acción : Vida y Escritos'' (2018), a biography of assassinated ETA leader Argala. Aizpurua contested the 2011 local elections as a

Bildu EH Bildu, short for Euskal Herria Bildu (English language, English: 'Basque Country Gather' or 'Basque Country Unite'), is a Left-wing politics, left-wing, Basque nationalism, Basque nationalist and Separatism, pro-independence federation of poli ...

electoral alliance An electoral alliance (also known as a bipartisan electoral agreement, electoral pact, electoral agreement, electoral coalition or electoral bloc) is an association of political parties or individuals that exists solely to stand in elections. E ...

candidate in Usurbil and was elected. She was mayor of Usurbil from 2011 to 2015 and president of Udalbiltza (an association of municipalities from the greater Basque Country) from 2012 to 2015. She contested the 2019 general election as an

EH Bildu EH Bildu, short for Euskal Herria Bildu (English language, English: 'Basque Country Gather' or 'Basque Country Unite'), is a Left-wing politics, left-wing, Basque nationalism, Basque nationalist and Separatism, pro-independence federation of poli ...

electoral alliance candidate in the

Province of Gipuzkoa Gipuzkoa ( , ; ; ) is a province of Spain and a historical territory of the autonomous community of the Basque Country. Its capital city is Donostia-San Sebastián. Gipuzkoa shares borders with the French department of Pyrénées-Atlantique ...

and was elected to the

Congress of Deputies The Congress of Deputies () is the lower house of the , Spain's legislative branch, the upper house being the Senate of Spain, Senate. The Congress meets in the Palacio de las Cortes, Madrid, Palace of the Parliament () in Madrid. Congress has ...

Personal life

Aizpurua is married and has a son.

Electoral history

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Aizpurua, Mertxe 1960 births Basque journalists Basque prisoners and detainees Basque women in politics EH Bildu politicians Imprisoned journalists Living people Mayors of places in the Basque Country Members of the 13th Congress of Deputies (Spain) People from Usurbil Prisoners and detainees of Spain Women mayors of places in Spain Women members of the Congress of Deputies (Spain) Members of the 14th Congress of Deputies (Spain) Members of the 15th Congress of Deputies (Spain)