Just ten minutes before the clock struck 12:00 on April 23, a very unusual meeting began at the National Court. Judge Manuel García-Castellón, who headed the Central Court of Instruction 6 until his retirement this September, began the questioning of a former ETA member who wanted to collaborate with justice. Only a day earlier, another former terrorist from the group sat before the judge for the same thing. They are the only two known former members of ETA who have recently been granted the status of protected witnesses, and their testimonies have already allowed progress to be made in several cases against the former leaders of the defunct armed group. “I think it is my duty. I think I must do it. I am indebted to democracy,” said one of them to the prosecutor, according to the minutes that record the content of those meetings, to which EL PAÍS has had access.
—When did your duty to cooperate with the Administration of Justice arise? —the public prosecutor asked one of these two former ETA members, who was a member of a legal commando (of unregistered members who carry out attacks while pretending to continue with their normal life) from 1993 until he was arrested in 2001.
—Well, I’m not sure when it happens or how it happens, but I know there is a time when I feel I should do it —the ex-terrorist replied.
His former comrade-in-arms, who spent time in prison and was part of the gang “in the 80s,” faced the same question: “I don’t want to give the date just in case, so as not to give any clues.”
—The reason for coming to testify at the National Court now? —the prosecutor asked him.
What matters most is what happens closer to home. To make sure you don’t miss anything, subscribe.
KEEP READING
“It’s been a development that I’ve had, I’ve realized the damage I’ve done and I want to collaborate with justice and the Civil Guard,” he replied.
—Do you want to help in any way you can to clarify the ETA attacks?
—Yes, to the best of my ability, to the best of my knowledge.
The testimonies of the two ETA members —whose identity remains secret— have gained importance in several cases. Their responses to García-Castellón were given within the reopened summary for the attack against Miguel Ángel Blanco, the PP councilor of Ermua (Bizkaia) kidnapped and murdered in July 1997, for which four former leaders of the gang were prosecuted this April 2024 (José Javier Arizcuren, alias Kantauri; Mikel Albisu, Mikel Antza; Maria Soledad Iparraguirre, Anboto; and Ignacio Miguel Gracia Arregui, Iñaki from Renteria). Previously, in 2023, the repentants had already testified before Judge Alejandro Abascal, in the investigations that are still alive for the murder of Gregorio Ordóñez, a Popular Party councillor from San Sebastián (Gipuzkoa), who was shot in the back of the neck by an ETA commando in 1995. And, at the same time, their words have been incorporated into the investigations into the murder of businessman Francisco Arratibel in 1997, allowing Kantauri, Antza, Anboto and Iñaki de Rentería to be prosecuted for this crime as well.
The National Court is planning to hold two hearings on Monday to study the appeals of three of them (Antza, Anboto and Rentería) against their prosecution for the attack on Miguel Ángel Blanco. In a statement, the victims’ association Dignidad y Justicia already expressed its “unreserved” gratitude for the help of the two ETA members who have become protected witnesses, as well as “their willingness to reduce the damage and to judicially resolve cases that have not yet been clarified.”
More than 200 answers
When they appeared before the National Court last April, the two repentant ex-ETA members answered more than 200 questions from Judge García-Castellón and the Public Prosecutor’s Office. During their statements, they offered details of the internal workings of the gang’s commandos; they pointed to specific ETA leaders for giving the orders to carry out the attacks; and they specified who and how the targets were chosen. “Everything Spanish was considered an enemy of the Basque people,” one of them summed up.
The leadership “decided” to assassinate the politicians. The two protected witnesses stressed that ETA operated with a very “hierarchical” structure, where the commandos only had free rein to attack members of the “Police, Civil Guard and the Army”, but that they had to receive precise orders from the top to attack other specific “targets”, such as politicians, prosecutors or judges. In these cases, the leadership “planned everything” and gave instructions through a system of “mailboxes”: “They always did it [el comité ejecutivo] decided against these objectives.” “The executive committee has always worked in the same way.”
The designated bosses. Throughout their statements, the two protected witnesses pointed to a dozen former ETA leaders. They singled out several of them without hesitation. Among them, for example, the aforementioned Anboto and Antza; and Javier García Gaztelu, Txapote; Ainhoa Mugica, Olga; and Juan Antonio Olarra, Jokin“They were the ones who gave the authorization to carry out the attack. At least that was the impression I gave when I spoke to them.”
Ternera “ruled everything.” The name of José Antonio Urrutikoetxea Bengoetxea also came up, Josu Ternerawho is currently in France wanted by Spain. “During your time within the terrorist organisation ETA, can you explain to us who Josu Ternera was and what his role and responsibility were within it?” one of the two repentants was asked. “Ternera was responsible for the political apparatus, and his role was to command everything. He was number one, the one who commanded everything. This is about the 1980s. […] Behind [Domingo] Iturbe, [Txomin, muerto en 1987]was the next one who organized everything. The one who had the most strength.”
Otegi and the attack on Miguel Ángel Blanco. As it was a politician, the two repentant members stressed that no commando could have kidnapped and killed the Ermua councillor on their own. “Do you know who gave the order?” Magistrate García-Castellón asked them. “No, but it was certainly the executive committee at the time. I don’t think so, I know it was certainly the executive committee,” said one of the former ETA members. “As it was a politician, the decision would have been made by the political apparatus.” […] “The responsibility was shared and emanated from the leadership of ETA,” responded the other protected witness.
“If they had given me the order, [yo] “I should have done it,” admitted one of them. If the executive committee of ETA had wanted to, would the murder of Miguel Ángel Blanco have been avoided? “Yes, for sure.” “The commando could not have carried out the murder. [tras el secuestro] If he had not received the orders from the executive committee, since there were conditions imposed, which the command did not have to know if they had been met or not. […] “In the end they killed him, and that certainly had the approval of the ETA leadership.”
The judge asked about the alleged involvement of Arnaldo Otegi, leader of EH Bildu, and other members of the former Herri Batasuna. “Are you aware that Herri Batasuna was aware of the kidnapping of Miguel Ángel Blanco?” the magistrate of the National Court asked one of the former ETA members. “I don’t know,” he replied. “During the investigation of the case, a protected witness stated that Otegi was aware of the kidnapping of Miguel Ángel Blanco. Do you think that Otegi could have prevented the murder?” continued García-Castellón. “No, I don’t think so,” said the repentant.
“Surely” the top brass ordered Ortega Lara’s kidnapping. Along the same lines, the two repentants referred to the kidnapping of the prison officer José Antonio Ortega Lara, freed by the Civil Guard in July 1997 after more than 530 days of captivity in the hands of the terrorist group. Was it the ETA leadership who ordered the kidnapping and the extension of his captivity to achieve their objectives? “I am completely sure that it was.” Who was in charge of the order to end this captivity? Who had the capacity to free him? “The capacity to end this captivity could only come from the leadership.”
“Clear order” to assassinate Gregorio Ordóñez. In the case of the murder of Gregorio Ordoñez, there must have been a “clear order” from the top of the organisation, added one of the two former ETA members: “The command could not have done it in any way without authorisation from the executive committee.”
Barracks houses, the more victims, the better. The repentants stressed the importance of attacking the houses and barracks of the Civil Guard. “It was a priority. The more people there were living there, the better.” The judge and the prosecutor asked about two in particular. The one that took place at the headquarters of the armed institute in Santa Pola (Alicante) in August 2002, which cost the lives of two people, one of them a six-year-old girl; and the one in Zaragoza, in December 1987, in which 11 people died, six of them minors. Josu Ternera is being prosecuted for this second one. “Could this attack have been carried out by a commando or would it have been necessary to ask the organisation for permission beforehand?” the prosecutor asked one of the ETA members. “No, [para atentar] The commandos had autonomy in the barracks,” said the former ETA member without giving specific names.
#testimonies #ETA #members #protected #witnesses #justice #indebted #democracy