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Basque separatist leader arrested in France

By Bernard Hibbitts (editor) and University of Pittsburgh School of Law students.

[JURIST] The Interior Ministry of Spain said Sunday that it has taken into custody the suspected leader of the Basque separatist group ETA, along with two other people who are believed to be senior members of the group. Ibon Gogeascoechea Arronategui and the two others were arrested in the French village of Cahan, after a long surveillance operation by Spain and France. In a nationally televised news conference, Spanish Interior Minister Alferdo Perez Rubalcaba said that the men were planning to enter Spain with the "worst intentions." Gogeascoechea has been sought since 1997 for his role in planting explosives around the Guggenheim museum in Bilbao which was believed to be an assassination attempt on King Juan Carlos. The two other men - Beinat Aguinalde Ugartemendia, and Gergorio Jimenez Morales - are wanted for separate assassinations that took place in 2008. Spain has made progress in its attempts to limit ETA influence in the past few years. In January Spanish Judge Fernando Grande-Marlaska ruled that ETA had tried three times to assassinate former Spanish prime minister Jose Maria Aznar in 2001 but had failed. Grande-Marlaska detailed the three assassination attempts as part of a description of the alleged crimes of ETA leader Pedro Maria Olano Zabala, who was arrested in the Basque region earlier that month. In September, accused ETA leader Mikel Garikoitz Aspiazu Rubina refused to make any statement during hearings before the Spanish National Court. In June, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) upheld Spain's ban of Basque political groups Batasuna and Herri Batasuna for their alleged ties to ETA. In April, alleged ETA leader Jurdan Martitegi Lizaso was arrested in France, and a Spanish judge charged him with murder for a May 2008 car bombing that killed a Spanish policeman.

Full post as published by JURIST - The Paper Chase on February 28, 2010 (boomark / email).