Spain's anti-terrorism court convicted 47 people on Wednesday of supporting ETA, as judicial authorities maintained pressure on the Basque separatist group six months after it ended a ceasefire.
The court sentenced them to prison terms of between two and 20 years each after Spain's biggest trial linked to ETA, which lasted from November last year to last March.
The 47 belong to various groups accused of links to ETA, blamed for 819 deaths in Spain over the past four decades in its campaign to establish an independent Basque nation in parts of northwestern Spain and southwestern France.
Anti-terrorist judge Baltasar Garzon, who headed the investigation that led to the trial, believes ETA could not have survived without the support of these groups.
A total of 52 people were on trial, but five were found not guilty.
The 47 convicted received a total of more than 500 years in prison for belonging to or collaborating with a "terrorist organization," according to the ruling read by the head of the court, Angela Murillo, and broadcast on national television.
ETA's political wing, Batasuna, immediately condemned the convictions.
The party's most senior official still at large, Pernando Barrena, accused the government of conducting a "witch hunt against the separatist movement" and a "scorched earth policy aimed at destroying bridges," a reference to an aborted peace process.
The government of Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero ended peace talks with ETA after it staged a car bombing at Madrid airport last December that killed two people.
ETA formally called off a 15-month-old ceasefire in June, saying the Madrid government had failed to make concessions in the peace process and it would now "act on all fronts" to campaign for an independent Basque state.
Since then, Zapatero, who is facing a general election in March, has adopted a hard line against the group.
Just days after ETA's announcement, the high court confirmed a 15-month prison sentence handed down to Batasuna leader Arnaldo Otegi for "glorifying terrorism."
Then in late October, Garzon ordered the arrest of most of the Batasuna leadership.
From 1998 to 2002, the judge had sought to dismantle various organizations suspected of links to ETA and whose members were convicted on Wednesday.
‘CROSSING THE LINE’: China’s embassy in Seoul criticized US Forces Korea Commander General Xavier Brunson, asking if his ‘hostile’ remarks were authorized by Washington South Korea and the US are in talks over recent public remarks by the commander of US Forces Korea, Seoul’s presidential office said yesterday, after the comments drew sharp criticism from China. In a recent podcast interview, US Forces Korea Commander General Xavier Brunson described South Korea as “the dagger in the heart of Asia” from China’s east coast, prompting the Chinese embassy in Seoul to say that he had “truly crossed the line.” The interview came amid growing speculation that Washington might seek to expand the role of US Forces Korea in countering the growing regional influence of China, a key
SEEKING ORDER: Rodrigo Paz said that ‘anyone who wants to destroy the nation will have to deal with this president and the full force of the constitution’ Bolivian President Rodrigo Paz on Wednesday said that the nation was at a “breaking point” after nearly a month of protests that have caused shortages of food, fuel and medicine. Paz, who took office six months ago amid the worst economic crisis there in four decades, is battling a groundswell of fury over his policies. The political capital, La Paz, has been besieged by low-income workers and members of the indigenous majority calling for his resignation. “The country needs order and is reaching breaking point,” the 58-year-old said at a public event in La Paz, renewing his appeal for dialogue. On Tuesday, the Bolivian
Through the noise of rushing papers and whirring belts at a print factory in Kyoto, two creators watch their photo essay come to life in broadsheet form — part of an effort to win new audiences in the age of artificial intelligence (AI). Despite the decline of the publishing industry, self-publication and handmade “zine” magazines are growing in popularity in Japan, reflecting the nation’s enduring love of paper in the digital era. While speaking to Agence France-Presse at the plant, his hands black with ink, one of the creators, Kazuma Obara, said: “I think [paper] is a medium that engages all five
Australian researchers have trained lab-grown brain cells on a silicon computer chip to play the 1990s shooter game Doom and said they are just scratching the surface of what the neurons could be capable of doing. It is the science-fiction work of biotech boffins at Cortical Labs, who researched and developed the technology that harnesses the workings of the brain’s networking system. Each so-called “biological computer” contains about 200,000 living human brain cells, grown from stem cells that were harvested from blood donations. Having mastered the simple computer game Pong, where a paddle is moved up and down to send a ball
RSS