Judge acquits 5 members sentenced on Basque 'Egunkaria' case

National High Court head Javier Gomez Bermudez acquitted this afternoon the five defendants - Iñaki Uria, Juan Mari Torrealdai, Jose Maria Auzmendi, Xabier Oleaga and Martxelo Otamendi- seven years after the order given by the then-leading PP government in 2003 to close of the Basque newspaper Egunkaria.

These five members of the directing body of Basque-language newspaper Egunkaria faced sentences of between 12 and 14 years in prison, in addition to a further 14 or 15-year ban from practicing journalism.

Spain''s public prosecution upholds that it cannot 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) accused 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 claimed that that the newspaper acted "with the help of the Basque language (Euskera) as a cultural cover" for the terrorist ideal. The defendants, however, denied any allegiance to ETA, describing themselves as promoters of Euskera whose aim was to respond to a palpable "interest" in a Basque-only newspaper.