ETA murder trial judge withdraws over bias

A SPANISH judge has withdrawn from the murder trial of four members of Basque separatist group ETA after an open microphone in court caught her calling them “bastards.”

Judge Angela Murillo, who has been accused of bias in previous ETA trials, made the comments during the trial of the four for the 2001 murder of anti-Basque nationalist politician Jose Javier Mugica.

“I have decided to withdraw from this case in order not to jeopardise the proceedings, the parties involved, the defendants and the victims,” Judge Murillo said on national radio yesterday.

ETA called an end to its 40-year campaign of bombings and shootings in October. However, any reconciliation between the armed group and their victims is a long way off.

Referring to Mugica’s wife, who gave testimony about the events leading up to her husband’s murder, Murillo said: “Poor woman. And on top of everything, those bastards are laughing.”

In February, the Supreme Court overturned a two-year sentence Murillo handed to the former head of ETA’s political wing Arnaldo Otegi, after ruling that a comment she had made exposed her bias.

The judge had said: “I knew you weren’t going to respond,” when the defendant refused to answer a question.