Basque terrorist to face extradition hearing

A convicted Basque terrorist who fled to the North from Spain will appear in court today to face extradition proceedings.

The Spanish authorities are seeking 53-year-old Eta member Inaki de Juana Chaos on suspicion of promoting terrorism.

Chaos served 18 years in prison for his involvement in a bombing campaign in Spain that claimed 25 lives during the 1980s.

He was released in 2004 but re-imprisoned soon afterwards for making threats and served another three years.

Spanish police now want to question him on suspicion of praising or supporting terrorism in a letter that was read out in his name at a rally in Spain.

In the text he allegedly called on Basque separatists to continue the armed struggle.

Authorities in Spain issued a European Arrest Warrant to the Police Service of Northern Ireland on Thursday.

PSNI officers are currently actively looking for him.

However, Chaos’s Belfast lawyer Kevin Winters said his client would present himself before the Recorder’s Court in Belfast today.

Chaos originally flew from Spain to Dublin. There he applied for a Spanish passport in person having travelled to Ireland on his identity card.

In Dublin it is understood he stayed with high-profile republican Jim Monaghan, who was one of three suspected IRA men imprisoned in Colombia in 2001 on suspicion of training Farc rebels.