ETA suspects ‘canstay in Belgium’

30 March 2004
 
BRUSSELS – A Brussels court on Tuesday ruled that a couple suspected of supporting the Basque separatist organisation ETA should not be extradited to stand trial in Spain.

The court said it believed Madrid had produced no fresh evidence to back up a demand first made over ten years ago, that Luis Moreno and Raquel Garcia to be extradited.

The couple wept when the court made its ruling on Tuesday.

Spain wants to try the Moreno and Garcia, who come from the Basque country but now have Belgian citizenship, because at the beginning of the 1990s they harboured members of an ETA cell later found guilty of murdering a police officer. 

The case has caused diplomatic embarrassment between Belgium and Spain, especially since the 11 March train bombings in Madrid.

After the Madrid attacks, Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt called on EU countries to co-operate more closely when tackling terrorism.

But analysts say many Spanish observers could well argue that Belgium’s attitude to the Morena-Garcia case does not seem to back up such statements.

[Copyright Expatica News 2004]

Subject: Belgian news