Iñaki Ruiz de Pinedo Undiano (born 23 July 1954) 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 ...

sociologist, politician and a 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 of Spain, Senate. The Congress meets in the Palacio de las Cortes, Madrid, Palace of the Parliament () in Madrid. Congress has ...

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 ...

. He was previously a member of the

Basque Parliament The Basque Parliament (Basque language, Basque: ''Eusko Legebiltzarra'', Spanish language, Spanish: ''Parlamento Vasco'') is the legislative body of the Basque Country (autonomous community), Basque Autonomous Community of Spain and the elected ...

Early life

Ruiz de Pinedo was born on 23 July 1954 in Gasteiz, Basque Country. He is the son of Jeus and Edelmira, clothing traders from Gasteiz. He has two brothers, Josu and Julen. Ruiz de Pinedo was educated at Colegio San José and Ramiro de Maeztu high school in Gasteiz. He has a degree in

social sciences Social science (often rendered in the plural as the social sciences) is one of the branches of science, devoted to the study of society, societies and the Social relation, relationships among members within those societies. The term was former ...

from the

University of Deusto The University of Deusto (; ) is a Spanish private university owned by the Society of Jesus, with campuses in Bilbao and San Sebastián, and the Deusto Business School branch in Madrid. The University of Deusto is the oldest private university ...

Career

Ruiz de Pinedo is a sociologist. He was affiliated with the

Basque Nationalist Party The Basque Nationalist Party ( , EAJ; , PNV; , PNB; EAJ-PNV), officially the Basque National Party in English, is a Basque nationalist and regionalist political party. The party is located in the centre of the political spectrum. It has been de ...

(EAJ) in his youth but later, whilst a student in

Bilbao Bilbao is a city in northern Spain, the largest city in the Provinces of Spain, province of Biscay and in the Basque Country (greater region), Basque Country as a whole. It is also the largest city proper in northern Spain. Bilbao is the List o ...

, he became a member of the People's Socialist Revolutionary Party (HASI), a banned Basque political party generally believed to be the political wing of the

separatist Separatism is the advocacy of cultural, ethnic, tribal, religious, racial, regional, governmental, or gender separation from the larger group. As with secession, separatism conventionally refers to full political separation. Groups simply seekin ...

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 ...

. At HASI's first congress he was elected to the party's board. Ruiz de Pinedo was a founding member of

Herri Batasuna Herri Batasuna (; ; HB) was a Far-left politics, far-left Basque nationalist coalition in Spain. It was founded in 1978 and defined itself as abertzale left, abertzale, left-wing, socialism, socialist, and supported the independence of the Basque ...

(HB)

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 ...

. Ruiz de Pinedo contested the 1980 regional election as a HB candidate in the Province of Araba and was elected to the

. Ruiz de Pinedo, along with Jokin Gorostidi, Miguel Castells and other elected representatives of HB, were arrested in 1981 for singing '' Eusko Gudariak'' during an address by

King King is a royal title given to a male monarch. A king is an Absolute monarchy, absolute monarch if he holds unrestricted Government, governmental power or exercises full sovereignty over a nation. Conversely, he is a Constitutional monarchy, ...

Juan Carlos Juan Carlos I (; Juan Carlos Alfonso Víctor María de Borbón y Borbón-Dos Sicilias, born 5 January 1938) is a member of the Spanish royal family who reigned as King of Spain from 22 November 1975 until his abdication on 19 June 2014. In Sp ...

at the Gernikako Batzarretxea. Ruiz de Pinedo and Jon Idigoras were arrested in December 1983 for "supporting terrorism" following a gathering at Los desayunos del Ritz at which they made statements justifying the ETA's armed separatism and supporting Basque independence. 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 ...

released the pair after ruling that it wasn't competent to hear cases against members of the Basque Parliament. In December 1985 the

Supreme Court In most legal jurisdictions, a supreme court, also known as a court of last resort, apex court, high (or final) court of appeal, and court of final appeal, is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...

convicted Ruiz de Pinedo and Idigoras of "supporting terrorism" and sentenced them to one year in prison and fined them 100,000 pesetas. Ruiz de Pinedo was re-elected at the

1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeas ...

1986 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. ** Spain and Portugal en ...

and

1990 Important events of 1990 include the Reunification of Germany and the unification of Yemen, the formal beginning of the Human Genome Project (finished in 2003), the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope, the separation of Namibia from South ...

regional elections. Despite being a member of the Basque Parliament he did not attend parliament until 1987 when HB's stance on the parliament changed. He was HB's spokesperson in parliament from 1987 to 1994. He left HASI in May 1988 after the party's leadership changed. Ruiz de Pinedo contested the 1987 local elections as a HB candidate in Vitoria-Gasteiz and was elected. He was re-elected at the 1991 local elections. He was a member of HB's National Board (Mahai Nazionaleko) from 1982 to 1996 when he left the party over differences in its direction and quit politics. In 1996 Ruiz de Pinedo and Rosa Delaasunciónekin founded Zero Tailer Soziologikoa S.L. Ruiz de Pinedo returned to politics in 1998 when at the 1998 regional election he was placed 5th on the

Euskal Herritarrok Euskal Herritarrok (, EH) was a Basque nationalism, Basque independentist and Socialism, socialist political party in the Euskal Herria, Basque Country. EH was banned in 2003 by the Supreme Court of Spain on the grounds that it sympathized with Eu ...

(EH) electoral alliance's list of candidates in the Province of Araba but the alliance only managed to win three seats in the province and as a result he failed to get re-elected to the Basque Parliament. He contested the 1999 local elections as an EH candidate in Vitoria-Gasteiz and was re-elected. He resigned from Zero Tailer Soziologikoa in 1999 after being elected to the municipal council. He resigned from the municipal council in 2000 due to differences with the EH leadership over the party's stance on ETA. He left politics in 2000 and from 2001 to 2005 he carried out research on the social need of prisoners for the

University of the Basque Country The University of the Basque Country (, ''EHU''; , ''UPV''; officially EHU) is a Spanish public university of the Basque Country (autonomous community), Basque Autonomous Community. Heir of the University of Deusto, University of Bilbao, initial ...

. He joined Invesco-Mirugain in 2005 as a research co-ordinator, specialising in poverty, prison and racism. Ruiz de Pinedo 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 ...

candidate in the Province of Araba and was elected to the

Personal life

Ruiz de Pinedo is married and has two children, Jon and Haizea.

Electoral history

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ruiz de Pinedo, Iñaki 1954 births Basque prisoners and detainees EH Bildu politicians Euskal Herritarrok politicians Herri Batasuna politicians Living people Members of the 1st Basque Parliament Members of the 2nd Basque Parliament Members of the 3rd Basque Parliament Members of the 4th Basque Parliament Members of the 13th Congress of Deputies (Spain) Municipal councillors in the Basque Country (autonomous community) People from Vitoria-Gasteiz Prisoners and detainees of Spain University of Deusto alumni Academic staff of the University of the Basque Country Members of the 14th Congress of Deputies (Spain) Members of the 15th Congress of Deputies (Spain)