The Court acquits the ETA member accused of murdering the former president of the PP of Aragón Giménez Abad

The court of the National Court that has judged the murder of the president of the PP of Aragon Manuel Giménez Abad has agreed on Tuesday the release of the accused ETA member Miren Itxaso Zaldua, who has been in provisional prison since May 2020.

The court explains that it adopts the decision “in view of what was agreed in relation to said defendant”, which means that the First Section magistrates consider that there is insufficient evidence to convict Sahatsa.

In its final report submitted to the court on Monday, the Prosecutor's Office stated that it had “no doubt” that the two defendants were responsible for the murder of the popular leader.

The prosecutor in the case claimed for herself and Asier Carrera Sarobe, Ata, 30 years in prison for terrorist murder. After serving a sentence in France, the now released prisoner was in prison only for this cause. This same Tuesday he will be released.

The Chamber has not made any decision regarding the other accused and his situation does not allow deducing what the sentence will be for him. Ata is in prison serving firm sentences, so, unlike the ETA member, the court does not need to order his release if he has opted for acquittal.

In view of the development of the trial, the evidence of Ata's alleged participation in the murder presented by the Prosecutor's Office was more solid than those referred to his partner in a terrorist band. Mainly because of the recognition of eyewitnesses, among them the son of the assassin, who accompanied him to soccer when in May 2001 he was shot in the back.

There were also recognitions against Sahatsa, questioned by the defense, as well as a handwritten note that according to the Public Ministry directly linked her to the attack.

The sentence that the Chamber notifies in the coming days will not be final, since both defenses and accusations – the family and Dignity and Justice also intervened – may appeal to the Supreme Court.

That of Giménez Abad was one of the almost 400 unsolved ETA attacks. If Ata is not finally convicted either, it is very likely that he will never leave that list.