The prosecution requested Wednesday June 16 five years in prison against Josu Ternera, historic leader of the Basque separatist organization ETA, tried before the Paris Criminal Court for participation in "
a terrorist association
" between 2011 and 2013 .
Read also: A Spaniard sentenced on appeal in France for his membership in ETA
At the end of two days of debates, the sentence of eight years in prison pronounced in 2017 during a first trial which was held in the absence of Josu Antonio Urrutikoetxea Bengoetxea of his real name, "
seems excessive
", underlined the prosecutor during his requisitions. But the "
defendant continues to have a still ambiguous position with regrets which are expressed and at the same time an almost impossible to recognize that the acts committed by ETA are terrorist acts which sowed terror within society.
She added.
"
Today, what I reproach the person concerned is his life in hiding (in Ariège, editor's note) when he was a member of ETA and he had the leisure to surrender to the French authorities
" , she added. In detail, she required five years in prison, a sentence accompanied by a detention warrant with deferred effect, a definitive ban from French territory as well as registration with the FIJAIT, the file of perpetrators of terrorist offenses.
From the end of the 1970s, Josu Ternera, now aged 70, was the political leader of ETA, in turn inspirer of a strategy of deadly attacks and then promoter of peace negotiations with the 'Spanish State. Created in 1959 under the Franco dictatorship, ETA is accused of having killed at least 853 people during four decades of violence in the name of the independence of the Basque Country. The judgment is expected to be reserved at a later date.
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