A French court on Thursday sentenced two Basques to prison terms of four and eight years for belonging to the armed Basque separatist group ETA.

Kizkitza Gil de San Vicente Gurruchaga and Zigor Merodio Larraona were arrested in June 2006 in Bordeaux in a motor vehicle with a false registration plate.

Kizkitza Gil de San Vicente Gurruchaga, who has already served nearly four years in prison, was expected to be released from custody within days.

Zigor Merodio Larraona was also sentenced to 12 years in prison in 2008 for extorting money businessmen to finance ETA activities.

ETA, which figures on the terrorist blacklist of both the European Union and the United States, is blamed for 828 deaths in its 41-year campaign for independence in the Basque region of northern Spain and southwestern France.