France authorizes Spain to try the former head of ETA 'Kantauri' for the murder of Miguel Ángel Blanco

The Paris Court of Appeal has authorized Spain to try the former head of the terrorist organization ETA José Javier Arizcuren, alias Kantauri, as the alleged person responsible for the order to kidnap and assassinate the Popular Party councilor Miguel Ángel Blanco in Ermua in 1997.

The French Justice has informed Kantauri's defense of the decision, in response to the European arrest warrant issued by the Central Investigating Court Number 6. The reinforcing magistrate Joaquín Gadea asked France to hand over the terrorist to proceed against him for the attack against the popular leader, reports Europa Press.

The same Paris Court of Appeal rejected in June last year the European arrest warrant issued on February 4, 2021 by the head of the Court, Manuel García Castellón, considering that it was “empty of content”. This led to the magistrate being forced to agree to the issuance of a new order, which has now been resolved by the French Justice.

[Story of a bullet: it killed Miguel Ángel Blanco but fatally wounded ETA itself]

The express authorization of the Court of Appeal was necessary because Kantauri was arrested in France in 1999 for facts other than those investigated by the magistrate in this case.

Judge García Castellón agreed last year to reopen the investigation into the murder of the Popular Party councillor, after admitting a complaint filed by the Dignity and Justice Association (DyJ) for processing.

In its letter, the association directed its accusation against the leaders of the gang at the time of the events: Kantauri; Ignacio Miguel Gracia Arregui, 'Iñaki de Rentería'; Juan Carlos Iglesias Chouzas, Gaddafi; Asier Oyarzabal, Baltza; Maria Soledad Iparraguirre Anboto; Miguel Gracia Arregui, Mikel Antza; Vicente Goicoechea Willy; Jokin Echevarria and Carlos Ibarguren Nervios.

The First Criminal Section of the National Court already sentenced the former ETA leader Francisco Javier García Gaztelu, Txapote, and his sentimental partner and member of ETA Irantzu Gallastegui Sodupe, Amaia, to 50 years in prison, as material authors of the murder of Miguel White angel.

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In its ruling, the court stated that both “planned and carried out the kidnapping and subsequent murder of Miguel Ángel Blanco, following the guidelines of the leadership of the terrorist organization ETA, whose most immediate objectives were the kidnapping of a PP councilor to to demand, in exchange for their release, the bringing of the gang's prisoners to prisons in the Basque Country”.

An approach that has now been carried out by the Ministry of the Interior, led by Fernando Grande-Marlaska, in compliance with the commitments made by the coalition government with Bildu.