North Ireland Judge orders Extradition of ETA Leader
Reuters – 1 March 2010
A Belfast judge on Monday ordered the extradition to Spain of a former leader of Basque separatist group ETA to face a charge of justifying terrorism.
Jose Ignacio De Juana Chaos has seven days to appeal against the extradition, Judge Tom Burgess said.
De Juana, 54, is alleged to have committed the offence of “public justification of terrorist acts” in August 2008 at a gathering in San Sebastian, Spain, to mark his release from jail.
He had just served 21 years for his part in 25 murders during ETA’s campaign of violence.
The judge rejected claims by De Juana’s lawyers he would not be given a fair trial in Spain or that he could be tried for any offence other than detailed in the European arrest warrant under which he has been held in Belfast.
De Juana, who was leader of ETA’s Madrid commando, appeared in court in an orange T-shirt bearing the slogan in Spanish “Where is Jon?” — a reference to ETA member Jon Antza who disappeared in France last year and is feared dead by his colleagues. ETA is held responsible for the deaths of more than 800 people in its 40-year campaign to carve out an independent Basque state in northern Spain and southwestern France.
The Basque Country already has considerable political autonomy from Madrid and one of the leading members of ETA’s banned political wing Batasuna has called on the rebsl to lay down their arms.
ETA has had close links to the Irish Republican Army, which has disarmed.