Spain charges against Basque separatist leader dropped News
Spain charges against Basque separatist leader dropped

[JURIST] Spanish prosecutors on Wednesday dropped all charges against Arnaldo Otegi [Wikipedia profile], the leader of Batasuna [BBC profile], which is alleged to be a front for the illegal Basque separatist militants ETA [BBC backgrounder]. Otegi had been charged with glorifying terrorism for praising an ETA member who killed herself while preparing explosives.

The Spanish Supreme Court in 2005 affirmed a slander conviction [BBC report] of Otegi relating to a 2003 press conference when Otegi said the King of Spain was responsible for torture as the head of the Spanish Army. Otegi was also convicted in 2006 on charges of glorifying terrorism, but he is now free on bail pending an appeal [JURIST report]. BBC News has more.

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