Albisu Iriarte, received with applause by the supporters of Sortu in the courts of San Sebastián, refused to testify for the murder of Gregorio Ordóñez
The National Court prohibited the former head of ETA Mikel Albisu, ‘Mikel Antza’, from leaving Spain, who this Tuesday declared in the San Sebastián Courts by videoconference for his alleged involvement in the murder of the Deputy Mayor of the Gipuzkoan capital Gregorio Ordóñez (PP) on January 23, 1995. Sortu gathered in front of the judicial headquarters to show his “support and solidarity” to the former head of ETA, who was received with applause. The members of Sortu have been joined by some from EH Bildu, such as the member of the National Council of Sortu Himar Altuna, Rufi Etxeberria, José María Olarra, Reyes Carrere and Iñaki Alegría.
‘Antza’ has taken advantage of his right not to testify, as explained by Rubén Múgica, the lawyer for the private prosecution who defends Ana Iríbar and Javier Ordóñez, the widow and son of the former lieutenant. Mayor of the PP in San Sebastián. The family of Gregorio Ordóñez is the one who has been promoting this instruction since its inception in 2015. Upon arrival before the Courts of the Gipuzkoan capital, Antza explained, without a mask and only in Basque, that he was not going to make statements to the media and has ironized saying “what are you saying?” when a journalist has asked a question in Spanish.
Rubén Múgica has been the one who has related what happened during the videoconference with the National Court in which Mikel Albisu Iriarte has spoken for just two minutes and “has read that the evidence against him is the result of torture.” “He has said that he lives little less than Heidi’s grandfather and that he wants to be left alone,” explained Múgica. The San Sebastian lawyer has affirmed that “there must be a redoubled effort so that those who were hierarchies, bosses of the criminal organization are tried and convicted for what they also did, which is to induce the perpetration of the murders.” “This will be the commitment of Gregorio’s family so that Albisu Iriarte is tried, convicted and imprisoned for that crime,” he said.
Múgica has indicated that from now on “the procedure has to continue against four other leaders of the organization who have to go through this same state, which is to testify as investigated. That will be achieved in time. And I think that with time there will also be a trial against the instigators of Gregorio’s murder, “he pointed out.
In the summary of provisional measures, Antza has been asked to prohibit leaving the national territory, the withdrawal of the passport and the obligation to appear every fifteen days in court.
“Suitable and relevant”
The declaration of this Tuesday in San Sebastián responds to an order signed on Monday, December 13. Judge Alejandro Abascal, head of the Central Court of Instruction number 1, gave the green light to his statement, which he considers “suitable and pertinent” given that Antza has remained in Spain for more than 45 days since his expulsion from France in January 2019, “Which makes it unnecessary to go to the extension of the delivery to act against him.”
Mikel Antza was arrested in October 2004 on a farm in the south of France where he was hiding. Along with him, his sentimental partner Marixol Iparragirre, ‘Anboto’, was arrested. That macro operation was a serious blow to the band. When he was arrested, Albisu was considered number one in ETA’s political apparatus. In the trial held in Paris in 2010, he was sentenced to 20 years as political head of ETA, a sentence that he completed in 2019.
Antza was called to testify to clarify a case that is not closed, despite the fact that the National Court convicted Juan Ramón Carasatorre, ‘Zapata’, Javier García Gaztelu, ‘Txapote’, and Valentín Lasarte as material authors of the murder. Ordóñez was shot while he was having lunch at the La Cepa bar in the Old Town of San Sebastian.
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