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.

The prosecution appealed the verdict to the Supreme Court.

Otegi, 47, announced he would appeal to the Constitutional Court.

In any case, the Basque leader will not have to go to jail for the moment as sentences of under two years are suspended in Spain.

However, the Supreme Court is to consider an appeal of a sentence of 15 months handed down to Otegi in May 2004 by the Basque court, which convicted him of defending terrorism.

A former Basque parliament deputy, Otegi is leader of the political party Batasuna, which was outlawed in 2003 on the basis that it formed part of ETA, an organisation that has killed more than 800 people since 1968 in a campaign for Basque independence.

Otegi served three years of a six-year sentence handed down in 1989 for his role in an ETA kidnapping.

He was also indicted this year on charges of being a top member of ETA and is out on bail awaiting trial.