Josu Ternera, former head of the 69-year-old separatist organization ETA incarcerated in Paris, was refused Wednesday the release he demanded given his age and the health crisis, AFP learned from judicial source. Josu Urrutikoetxea Bengoetxea, known as Ternera, appeared Wednesday afternoon before the instruction room of the Paris Court of Appeal by videoconference from the Health prison, where he has been detained for almost a year.
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"The doctor who follows him in prison has explicitly requested that his detention be suspended: the investigating chamber has the power to protect him and leaves him in a situation of extreme vulnerability", reacted in the evening his lawyer, Laurent Pasquet-Marinacce, with AFP. "Two cases of Covid-19 were declared at the end of the morning in the prison of Health, in particular an auxiliary on the floor of Mr. Urrutikoetxea", had declared the lawyer before the court.
A petition in favor of his release has been signed in recent days by dozens of international personalities, including the former Keeper of the Seals Christiane Taubira, Professor Noam Chomsky or the historic leader of Sinn Fein Gerry Adams.
Josu Ternera, who has an individual cell, suffers from, among other things, tachychardia, prostate disease, high blood pressure and contracted several pneumonias, according to the doctors cited by the defense.
The former Basque leader had been arrested on May 16, 2019 in the Alps after more than 16 years of clandestine life. Claimed in four court cases by Spain, he must first be retried twice in France.
The investigating chamber has already ruled in favor of surrender to Spain in a first case, which has been appealed to the Court of Cassation. It must rule on June 10 on two other requests and examine a fourth on June 3.
Relatives of Josu Ternera, who announced on May 3, 2018 from Geneva the dissolution of the Basque separatist organization, assure that he has been involved in all stages of the long process towards peace initiated between ETA and the government Spanish, from 1989, and that he even benefited "twice from the guarantees of diplomatic immunity" of the Spanish government to go to negotiate in Geneva and Oslo.