ETA members sentenced to 790 years for bomb attack

Two top members of the outlawed Basque separatist group ETA have been sentenced to 790 years in prison for ordering and carrying out a bombing in 1987 that killed 21 people and injured 45 others in Spain’s deadliest attack.

In a ruling Friday, the National Court found Santiago Arrospide, also known as Santi Potros, guilty of ordering the car bombing at the Hipercor supermarket car park lot in Barcelona on June 19, 1987.

Rafael Caride Simon was convicted of detonating the explosives-packed car by remote control.

Two other ETA members indicted in the Barcelona bombing, Domingo Troitino and Josefina Mercedes Ernaga, were tried and sentenced in 1989 to a total of 1,588 years in prison for murder and wrongful injury.

Although the sentences add up to 790 years for both Arrospide and Caride, under Spanish law they will not spend more than 30 years in prison.

ETA has killed more than 800 people in its 35-year violent campaign for an independent Basque homeland.

It is classified as a terrorist group by the United States and the European Union.