The leader of Spain's banned Basque separatist party, Batasuna, has been sentenced to 15 months in jail for extolling terrorism. Prosecutors said Arnaldo Otegi had spoken at the funeral of a member of the armed Basque group Eta in 2001. They said he praised what he called Basque soldiers fallen in the battle for self-determination. Meanwhile, security sources say French police have arrested suspected top Eta member Felix Ignacio Esparza Luri. The sources said Mr Esparza Luri, who is believed to be the head of Eta's logistical operations, was detained in a joint operation by French and Spanish police.
| 2003 was a bad year for the ETA. 2004 looks like more of the same. |
As well as being sent to jail, Otegi was also banned from holding public office for eight years. The court heard that in 2001, Otegi carried the coffin at the funeral of an Eta member who accidentally blew herself up with a bomb.
| Another case of "Red Wire Syndrome" |
He reportedly described the Eta activist as a "colleague" and a "patriot", then asked for "applause for all Basque soldiers who have fallen in this long struggle for self-determination". The BBC's Katya Adler in Madrid says Batasuna, which renamed itself the Patriotic Socialists after it was banned last year, has often denied being the political wing of Eta. However, she adds that Batasuna does at times speak on Eta's behalf.
| "Well, we do know them, and sometimes we speak for them, and OK, we do have fundraisers, but we aren't really conected to them." |
More than 800 people have been killed during Eta's 38-year campaign of violence to form an independent Basque homeland in the north of Spain. Our correspondent says Batasuna has never explicitly condemned the violence. Otegi has five days to appeal against the verdict. In an interview with a Basque radio station, he described his sentence as exactly the kind of action by the Spanish state which "constitutes the best call to an armed struggle".
| If you quit struggling, you wouldn't be in the slammer. |
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