ETA terrorist believed to be a guest of Sinn Féin may face extradition

A NOTORIOUS ETA terrorist who flew to Ireland after serving 21 years in a Spanish prison may be forced to return to face new charges, it has emerged.

Jose Ignacio de Juana Chaos murdered 25 people in the 1980s in 11 separate attacks.

He jetted to Dublin the day after being released from prison amid a storm of controversy in Spain.

But yesterday a Spanish judge said de Juana must answer questions about a letter read out at an ETA rally to mark his release. He may face charges of glorifying terrorism and humiliating victims of terrorism.

Judge Eloy Velasco, who sits at the National Court in Madrid, ordered a fellow judge in de Juana’s hometown of San Sebastian to locate the terrorist and order him to appear in court for questioning.

Just hours after he was released from prison, a letter allegedly penned by de Juana was read out at a rally in San Sebastian. In the letter de Juana referred to former ETA leader Domingo Iturbe Abasolo as “a great man and friend of our people”.

State prosecutors have called for de Juana to be formally investigated over the contents of the letter.

De Juana flew to Dublin the day after he was released from prison. He had been jailed in 1987 for 3,000 years for the 24 murders — including killing 12 Civil Guard officers in 1986.

Domingo Iturbe Abasolo died in a car crash in 1989 after leading the terror organisation for 12 years.

His release was greeted with outrage across Spain — fuelled by the fact he plans to live on the same road in San Sebastian as the widows of three ETA victims.

Spain’s prime minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero said de Juana “generates a perfectly understandable feeling of contempt”.

De Juana flew to Ireland from Biarritz on August 3 and is thought to have remained in Dublin since.

Gardaí told Spanish newspapers he is expected to attend events organised by Sinn Féin.

Two years ago, during one of de Juana’s three hunger strikes while in prison, Sinn Féin appealed to the Spanish government for his “immediate release”.

De Juana has never expressed any remorse and once wrote of his victims: “Their tears are our smiles, and in the end we will roar with laughter.”

ETA has killed more than 800 people in its 40-year campaign for independence for the Basque country. On Sunday it planted three bombs on the Costa del Sol. Two of the devices exploded, causing chaos at beaches but nobody was injured.