The National Court sends the ETA members Txapote and Amaia to trial for the murder of the popular mayor Manuel Zamarreño in 1998

Francisco Javier García Gaztelu, 'Txapote', in a trial at the National High Court in 2010. JJ Guillén (EFE)

The National Court has opened an oral trial against the ETA members Francisco Javier García Gaztelu,

, and Irantzu Gallastegi,

, for the death of Manuel Zamarreño, the PP councilor from Rentería (Gipuzkoa) assassinated in 1998 with a motorcycle bomb when he was returning from buy bread at a store near your home.

The magistrates of the Second Section of the Criminal Chamber have made the decision after concluding this summary on one of the gang's crimes that remain unpunished.

Txapote and Amaia, two of ETA's bloodiest terrorists, are currently in prison: among other attacks, for the one perpetrated against Miguel Ángel Blanco, also a popular mayor.

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In a letter from the Chamber dated September 21, to which EL PAÍS had access, the judges gave the green light to seat the two on the bench after the Prosecutor's Office "showed its agreement with the order of conclusion of the investigation and requested the opening of the oral trial for the defendants.”

The Villacisneros Foundation, which provides legal support to Zamarreño's daughter in this case, has celebrated the decision: "It is magnificent news that reaffirms the need for the rule of law to never lower its guard in defense of the law and in the prosecution of the crime [...] Without justice there is no reparation for the damage caused”.

On the right, Manuel Zamarreño, when he took office as a PP councilor in the Rentería City Council, replacing José Luis Caso.Efe

ETA assassinated Zamarreño on June 24, 1998. The terrorist group planted a bomb with three kilos of ammonal on a motorcycle, which he parked on a sidewalk and activated remotely.

The councilman was returning from shopping at that moment.

“He always used to go for bread... Although they told him he had to change stores, yes.

Last week I had gone to buy it, but of course, it was not the objective.

The bakery that day was 50 meters from our house.

95 stairs, to be more exact, that my

had numbered", recalled her daughter Naiara in 2018, in an interview in

, where she added: "They

shouted at my

The popular decided to assume the position of councilor at a time of great risk.

ETA kept the strategy called “socialization of suffering” at full capacity, which it activated in the 1990s with the aim of annihilating the dissenting party and which made the PP and PSOE mayors a priority target for its attacks.

In this context, for example, the gang had already murdered Miguel Ángel Blanco and Gregorio Ordóñez.

And to José Luis Caso, also a popular councilor in Rentería, who was shot in the head by a terrorist without saying a word in December 1997, when he was in the Trantxe bar, in Irún (Gipuzkoa), where he usually stopped before going to dinner at home.

Zamarreño replaced Caso in the post.

Ertzaintza agents inspect the place where councilor Manuel Zamarreño was assassinated in June 1998.ap

Zamarreño, who had barely been in the position of councilor for a month when he was assassinated, had been a partner in Case in Shipyards for 24 years, according to the website

, of the Covite victims' association.

Both suffered intense campaigns of harassment before their lives were ended.

Zamarreño's car was set on fire and his name frequently appeared in graffiti on the streets inside a target.

On June 24, 1998, the explosion of the motorcycle bomb hit the PP councilor, who was left lying lifeless between two cars parked on the battery.

His body remained like this, covered by a blanket, for two and a half hours, until the judge ordered his removal.