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A SPANISH judge has withdrawn from the murder trial of four members of Basque separatist group ETA after an open microphone in court caught her calling them “bastards.”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