ETA suspects arrested in France and Spain after ceasefire announcement

[News_Editor]

ETA suspects arrested in France and Spain after ceasefire announcement

2011-01-11 22:08:43 GMT+7 (ICT)

SAN SEBASTIAN, SPAIN (BNO NEWS) -- Spanish and French authorities on Monday announced the detention of two men suspected of being members of the Basque separatist group ETA.

According to the Gara newspaper, Iraitz Gesalaga was arrested in the southwestern French town of Ziburu and Itsaso Urtiaga was arrested in the Spanish village of Zarautz. Both men were detained just minutes apart at around 6 a.m. local time in Basque territory.

French police, in coordination with the Spanish Civil Guard, conducted the operation which was led by Judge Laurence Le Vert and Judge Fernando Grande-Marlaska. Spanish authorities said that the arrests were not in retaliation of ETA's ceasefire announcement.

On Monday, ETA representatives announced through a video recording that the Basque organization decided to commit towards a peaceful solution with the Spanish government and announced the ceasefire as proof of its intentions.

Gesalaga, 27, has lived in Ziburu for about a month and worked as a computer technician. Urtiaga, 21, is a philosophy student at Donostia. Basque neighbors claimed that both persons were innocent of the accusations against them.

"We want to claim that these arrests are pure war propaganda. It is not coincidence that these two young people, who live a public life, were arrested the day after the ceasefire announcement," the Spanish pro-amnesty movement said.

Authorities alleged that Gesalaga is one of the top computing experts for ETA and is in charge of a project for Colombia's FARC rebel military group. Gesalaga has supposedly traveled twice to Colombia.

Urtiaga is Gesalaga's girlfriend and is accused of aiding ETA in diverse activities as well as contributing to the training of ETA activists in Venezuela and Colombia. Gesalaga was wanted by the Civil Guard for several months.

Last November, Spain refused to engage in a dialogue with ETA after the separatist organization announced a cease fire. Spain said that the group had broken two similar agreements in the past and believes it was made in order to allow the ETA political wing Batasuna to participate again in the political process.

Since 1960, more than 800 people have been killed and thousands more have been injured in ETA-linked attacks.

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