The judge rules out genocide in one of the reopened ETA proceedings

Civil Guard agents inspect the remains of the vehicle exploded by a sticky bomb, in Sallent de Gállego (Huesca), in August 2000.

Manuel García-Castellón, judge of the National Court, has once again closed the proceedings on the murder of two civil guards in Sallent de Gállego (Huesca) in the year 2000, perpetrated by ETA.

The magistrate reopened the case on February 23 to study the complaint for genocide against 10 former leaders of the terrorist group, presented by the Spanish Association against Impunity and for the advancement of Human Rights.

After analyzing the complaint and in line with the Prosecutor's Office, the instructor has concluded that said crime does not fit in this case, as stated in a resolution signed this Tuesday.

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The National Court reopens the summary of the double murder of civil guards in Huesca by ETA

For his decision, the magistrate relies on the jurisprudence of the Supreme Court and the Criminal Chamber of the National Court itself on the genocide.

Along these lines, García-Castellón insists that the necessary requirements are not met to fit that crime into the crime of Sallent de Gállego.

According to the judge, "it is not possible to differentiate a characterizing element of the group, given that all the individuals involved —both victims and defendants— belong to the same national group."

"Ethnic, racial or religious characteristics, which are differential and which characterize the group whose extermination - total or partial - is intended, are not appreciated either," he adds in his opinion.

The Spanish Association against Impunity, headed by the lawyer Miguel Ángel Rodríguez Arias, sought to open a new way to prosecute the crimes of the terrorist group in the Court.

The group maintains that ETA deployed a "policy of attempted genocide", which would make it possible to declare 327 of the 379 unresolved crimes of the band indefeasible.

This lawsuit was directed against 10 former ETA leaders: Miguel Gracia Arregui,

;

Mikel Albisu,

;

Maria Soledad Iparraguirre,

;

Juan Carlos Iglesias,

;

Asier Oyarzabal,

;

Vicente Goicoetxea,

;

Ainhoa ​​Mugica,

;

Ramon Sagarzazu,

;

Javier García Gaztelu,

;

and Juan Antonio Olarra,

.