In 1998, several notable events occurred around the
Basque nationalist left: the
National Table of
Herri Batasuna was jailed, the
Pact of Estella was signed,
ETA declared an indefinite truce and the electoral coalition
Euskal Herritarrok presented itself to the
Basque elections of the same year. Askatasuna was created that year by a small group of members of the
Ezker abertzalea that feared the banning of the other political parties and organizations of the
Basque national movement. Three years later, in May 2001, with a different situation since
ETA had returned to commit deadly attacks, Askatasuna presented lists to the
Basque elections in the
three provinces. Askatasuna barely campaigned and won a very meager percentage of votes (0.05%). A month later, in June 2001,
Euskal Herritarrok and
Herri Batasuna created a new political party,
Batasuna, which in March 2003 was outlawed by the Supreme Court according to a new law on political parties, that allowed the banning of those political parties that were
against the democratic regime of liberties, supported violence and/or activities of terrorist groups. Despite the outlawing of
Batasuna, Askatasuna continued to appear in the register of political parties and was in all respects a legal political formation, although since 2001 had not had any activity. This led some politicians and media communications analysts suggest that Askatasuna was being kept as a legal political brand that could eventually be used by
Batasuna to present lists in future elections. In mid-January 2009, the press reported that Askatasuna wanted to participate in the
Basque elections of 2009. The
PP asked justice to monitor Askatasuna to see if it was the electoral brand of the outlawed
Batasuna. Askatasuna and
Demokrazia Hiru Milioi (D3M) were banned from the
elections by the
Supreme Court of Spain due to their alleged links to
ETA and
Batasuna. Soon later, both Askatasuna and
Demokrazia Hiru Millioi were also banned as political parties and dissolved by the
Constitutional Court of Spain. On June 11, 2012, the
Audiencia Nacional cleared the promoters Askatasuna considering that their activity did not involve "direct connection" with the purposes and methods of the terrorist organization
ETA. The judgment recognized that Askatasuna "was the successor" of
Herri Batasuna,
Euskal Herritarrok and
Batasuna, and therefore "had to be aware of their contribution to the succession of the outlawed parties"; but "has not been established that the accused, consciously and deliberately acted in support of the terrorist organization
ETA" but exercised "political participation rights of those who are the owners and the exercise of which have not been suspended or disqualified. ==References==