High Court to pronounce sentence on Basque newspaper Egunkaria case

Spain''s High Court is to pronounce sentence today on the court case against five members of the directing body of Basque-language newspaper Egunkaria, closed down by the then-leading PP government in 2003.

Spain''s public prosecution upholds that it can not be proved that ETA was behind closed-down newspaper Euskaldunon Egunkaria. However, private accusation parties, the group Dignity and Justice and the Association of Victims of Terrorism (AVT) accuse the five defendants - Iñaki Uria, Juan Mari Torrealdai, Jose Maria Auzmendi, Xabier Oleaga and Martxelo Otamendi - of "maintaining financial links with the terrorist group".

They claim that that the newspaper acted "with the help of the Basque language (Euskera) as a cultural cover" for the terrorist ideal. The defendants, however, deny any allegiance to ETA, describing themselves as promoters of Euskera whose aim was to respond to a palpable "interest" in a Basque-only newspaper.

In 2006, Central Court Prosecutor Miguel Angel Carballo determined that there were no grounds for the current court case and requested a stay of proceedings. Despite this, six months later a court hearing was officially announced.

In the hearing it was concluded that only five of those arrested would finally go to trial: Joan Mari Torrealdai, ex-President of the administrative counsil of Egunkaria; Iñaki Uria, ex-Managing Director; Txema Auzmendi, former Administrative Council Secretary; Martxelo Otamendi, ex-Director; and Xabier Oleaga, former deputy director.

On trial, which began on 15th December 2009, the accused face sentences of between 12 and 14 years in prison, in addition to a further 14 or 15-year ban from practicing journalism.

The paper was closed down by the Spanish Civil Guard on 20th February 2003 by order of National Court Judge, Juan del Olmo.