Alleged ETA leader sentenced for slandering king

SPAIN’S Supreme Court sentenced radical leader Arnaldo Otegi to a year in prison yesterday for slandering King Juan Carlos by saying he was in charge of torturers.

Otegi made the remark during a news conference coinciding with a visit by the monarch to the Basque region on February 26, 2003. He described the king as “maximum chief of the Spanish army, in other words, the person responsible for the torturers.”

Otegi was acquitted of the charges in March on the grounds of freedom of expression.