10/05/2012 - Myclipp

El País/ - Sociedad, Qui, 10 de Maio de 2012
CLIPPING INTERNACIONAL (Supreme Court)
Basque separatist leader Otegi sees jail
term reduced
The Supreme Court has reduced a prison sentence
against Basque radical leader Arnaldo Otegi from 10 to
six years, arguing that he is guilty of terrorist
association but that it cannot be proven that he held a
position of leadership.Otegi, a longtime spokesman for
the political wing of terrorist group ETA (variously
known as Herri Batasuna, Euskal Herritarrok and
Batasuna), has been in and out of prison for decades
on various convictions connected with terrorist
activities, including the kidnapping of a Basque
businessman. He has also been an member of the
Basque Parliament. In recent years, Otegi became the
leading figure in a move by radical Basque sectors to
distance themselves from ETA and pursue their goal of
sovereignty through legal means.Some critics viewed
this merely as an attempt to get former members of the
outlawed Batasuna back into politics in time for
Basque elections last year, in which Bildu, a coalition
that included Batasuna members, effectively won the
most votes.The High Court originally sentenced Otegi
(and his colleague Rafael Díez Usabiaga) to 10 years
for terrorist association and for being "authorized
spokesmen" for the Basque radical left as decided by
ETA in a coordination committee. Within this
committee, Otegi and Usabiaga were "the driving
forces" behind ETA"s new strategy, which favored
political methods over military ones, but without
actually renouncing their weapons.Otegi has already
served three years of that sentence. However, the
Supreme Court now rules that "there is no difficulty in
considering them part of the terrorist group ETA" since
the criminal organization put them in charge of "the job
of negotiating and bringing together the
pro-sovereignty forces in the Basque Country," acting
under ETA"s aegis and direction.But, says the court,
"this coordination does not justify his classification as a
leader." Instead, both Otegi and Usabiaga are seen to
have held similar positions as other defendants in the
same case. In Otegi"s case, he was basically the
"visible face for the media of the new strategy
conceived by ETA."
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