SPAIN/FILE: Suspected ETA military chief arrest is a blow for ETA, Zapatero says

Record ID: 722226

  • Title: SPAIN/FILE: Suspected ETA military chief arrest is a blow for ETA, Zapatero says
  • Date: 17th November 2008
  • Summary: (BN10) MADRID, SPAIN (NOVEMBER 17, 2008) (REUTERS) SPANISH PRIME MINISTER JOSE LUIS RODRIGUEZ ZAPATERO WALKING UP TO PODIUM (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) SPANISH PRIME MINISTER, JOSE LUIS RODRIGUEZ ZAPATERO SAYING: "During the night the highest ranking ETA operative known as Txeroki was detained in France. Also detained with him was a presumed member of the terrorist group ETA that was accompanying him. It is a decisive operation in the fight against ETA. It was the fall of someone who, for sometime, has directed the operational actions of the terrorist group ETA. It was also the downfall of the person directly responsible for the latest murders committed by the terrorist group ETA. With these arrests ETA has received an important blow in their organisation and their capabilities. Today ETA is weaker and Spanish democracy is stronger." JOURNALISTS AT NEWS CONFERENCE ZAPATERO LEAVING NEWS CONFERENCE
  • Embargoed: 2nd December 2008 12:00
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  • Reuters ID: LVAT2YT5Z2995C78I7VJV56UTVG
  • Story Text: Spanish Prime Minister, Jose Zapatero says the arrest of suspected ETA military chief is a blow to the organisation.
    Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero said on Monday (November 17) the arrest of suspected military leader of Basque separatist group ETA dealt a blow to the organisation.

    "During the night the highest ranking ETA operative known as Txeroki was detained in France. Also detained with him was a presumed member of the terrorist group ETA that was accompanying him. It is a decisive operation in the fight against ETA. It was the fall of someone who, for sometime, has directed the operational actions of the terrorist group ETA. It was also the downfall of the person directly responsible for the latest murders committed by the terrorist group ETA. With these arrests ETA has received an important blow in their organisation and their capabilities. Today ETA is weaker and Spanish democracy is stronger," Zapatero told a news conference in Madrid.
    Garikoitz Aspiazu Rubina, known by his alias "Txeroki" or "Cherokee", was arrested along with an unnamed female ETA suspect at
    30 a.m. (0230 GMT) in France's mountainous Pyrenean region near the Spanish border, French police said.
    It was the latest in a series of captures of senior ETA figures and appeared to be the biggest blow to the organisation since May, when ETA's top commander Francisco Javier Lopez Pena was arrested in the French city of Bordeaux.
    A spokesperson for the Basque regional government, Miren Azcarate welcomed the news of Aspiazu's detention.

    "Txeroki's arrest is good news as well as the arrest of the person who was with him because it puts people that have committed murder at the disposition of the justice system. Everything shows that they had every intention to continue down that route. They dedicated themselves to extortion, to place bombs, threaten and create insecurity and fear in society.
    Undoubtedly this is good news," she said.
    Aspiazu, 35, is suspected of involvement in the killing of two Spanish civil guard police in the French seaside town of Capbreton in December 2007, police said.
    Spanish media have also said security forces blame Aspiazu for ordering a car bombing at Madrid airport in December 2006 which killed two people and wrecked peace talks with the Spanish government.
    Aspiazu faces trial in France for the Capbreton killings but Madrid will ask that he be sent for trial in Spain on other charges, before being returned to serve any French sentence, a spokesman for Spain's State Prosecution Service said.
    Aspiazu, whose Spanish police photo shows a tough-looking man with a thin beard and a mullet hairstyle, has been in charge of ETA's military operations for several years, during which time the group has staged dozens of attacks, security services believe.
    He is also suspected of involvement in a failed plot to assassinate King Juan Carlos in Majorca in 2004, Spanish media reported.
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