Eta member jailed for 83 years
Spain’s National Court today found a former leading member of the armed Basque group Eta guilty of taking part in the 1996 slaying of a Socialist politician and sentenced him to 82 years in prison.
Francisco Javier Garcia Gaztelu, 40, also known as Txapote, was also barred from going near the Basque city of San Sebastian – where politician Fernando Mugica was murdered – for six years should he be released from jail.
On June 30, Garcia Gaztelu and his girlfriend, Irantzu Gallastegui, were sentenced to 50 years each for Eta’s 1997 killing of Miguel Angel Blanco, a young councillor for the then-ruling Popular Party.
In both trials, Garcia Gaztelu refused to recognise the court, insulted the judges and labelled the process “a media circus”.
Eta, whose name stands for Basque Homeland and Freedom, has killed more than 800 people, mostly Spanish security force members, since 1968 in its campaign for an independent Basque state.
It called a permanent ceasefire on March 22, and Spain’s socialist government has announced it will hold talks on getting the group to dissolve.
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