Word: etas
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...Madrid bombings - who was involved; who blamed whom for what; should investigations carry on or not - continues to be the favorite sport of Spanish politicians. On Tuesday, the Congress of Deputies debated whether the opposition Popular Party had mounted a "media jihad" in its efforts to prove that ETA was indeed involved in the attacks. The uncertainty surrounding Osman's sentence will just give them one more thing to argue about...
...standards, the verdicts seemed light--many sentences ranged from 12 to 15 years, and seven of the 28 suspects were absolved of all crimes, including alleged mastermind Rabei Osman. The ruling put to rest a long-festering accusation lodged by conservatives that the Basque separatist group ETA, not Islamic terrorists, was behind the attacks that killed 191 people and injured nearly 2,000 more. But it raised many questions about Spain's ability to prosecute terrorism cases now that Islamic terrorists are as much a threat as members of ETA...
...want to tell the Socialist Party and the Spanish Government that [Batasuna] will stay where it has always been and will maintain its political wager in favor of peace and the resolution of the [Basque] conflict." And while Barrena and others favor public protests, Basques are praying that ETA does not respond with something far deadlier...
Since June, Spanish authorities (in concerted action with French counterparts across the border) have scaled up their antiterrorist operations and moved aggressively against ETA and Batasuna. Earlier this week, Spanish authorities arrested two other Batasuna leaders. Arnaldo Otegi, the group's main spokesperson was jailed on June 8 to serve a 15-month sentence for participating in a tribute to an ETA activist killed in 1978 by a fascist paramilitary group...
Criticism by the opposition Partido Popular (PP) that Zapatero is soft on the nationalists - and separatists - in the Basque and Catalan provinces appear to have pushed the Prime Minister toward a tougher stance on nationalist demands. He has certainly come down hard on ETA and has closed off negotiations with Batasuna for a political solution to the decades-old Basque conflict. Zapatero acknowledged recently that there should be "no expectation" of new negotiations with ETA...