MADRID − Two members of Spain’s armed Basque separatist movement ETA have each been sentenced to 232 years in jail for an attack which killed a policeman two decades ago, it was reported Tuesday.

Juan Jose Legorburu and Mercedes Galdos were convicted of being members of a commando group which launched a grenade and machinegun attack on an armed police van in the Basque country in April 1982.

The assault left one policeman dead and another eight injured, including one who had to have his leg amputated.

Jail sentences running into hundreds or sometimes thousands of years are often imposed in terrorism cases in Spain, where the judicial system imposes cumulative sentences but which limits time in prison to 40 years.

ETA, which seeks independence for the Basque country in northern Spain by both political and violent means, has been responsible for the deaths of 800 people in 36 years.

Spanish authorities claim to have seriously weakened the organisation with the arrest of hundreds of operatives in recent years.
 
[Copyright EFE with Expatica]

Subject: Spanish news