Spain's anti-terrorism court Wednesday convicted 47 members of Basque separatist groups over their links to the armed organisation ETA and sentenced them to prison terms of between two and 20 years each. The rulings were issued following the biggest ever trial linked to ETA, which lasted from November 2006 to last March.
The 47 belong to various groups campaigning for Basque independence. Prosecutors charged that these organisations have ties 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 north-western Spain and south-western 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 either leading, being a member of, or collaborating with a "terrorist organisation," according to the ruling read by the head of the court, Angela Murillo, and broadcast on national television.
The government of Socialist Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero ended peace talks with ETA after it staged a car bombing at Madrid airport in December 2006 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.
Garzon in late October ordered the arrest of most of the leadership of ETA's banned political wing, Batasuna. From 1998 to 2002, the judge also sought to dismantle various organisations suspected of links to ETA and whose members were convicted Wednesday. They include a political group, Kas-Ekin, a newspaper, Egin, an international organisation, Xaki, and another which sought to stir civil disobedience, the Joxemi Zumalabe Foundation.
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