Batasuna relaunches itself as a new party opposed to violence

THE outlawed political wing of armed Basque separatists ETA announced yesterday its rebirth as a new party that rejects violence and intends to contest elections.

Batasuna has been ruled illegal since 2003 because of its links to ETA, whose bloody battle for a Basque homeland independent of Spain has been blamed for 829 deaths over more than four decades.

The outlawed party has previously said it opposes violence without actually condemning ETA’s violent past.