A native of San Sebastián settled in Larresoro (a Basque town under French administration), Oier Oa was released from jail on 4 April, after serving his sentence for his involvement in the Basque separatist group ETA.
Unable to extradite him to the Spanish state because of a legal tangle, a French court has banned him from staying in France — yet the French Interior Ministry decided to impose a compulsory residence order, a measure similar to house arrest, this time in Sartrouville, a town near Paris.
Hundreds of kilometres from the Basque Country, and under extreme restrictions, he is unable to work or find housing. He is forced to sign in at the police station three times a day, subsisting on the solidarity of others.
On 5 June, the Spanish court decided to dismiss the case opened against him for belonging to Segi (a Basque pro-independence and revolutionary left-wing organisation), clearing the way for his return to Basque territories under Spanish administration. But while awaiting the French court's decision on his residence order, he was arrested in Sartrouville on 17 June and moved to a detention centre in Plaisir.
Held in the detention centre, he now awaits a resolution that could take up to 45 days. The last chapter of a Kafkaesque odyssey.
