Four ETA members jailed for murder of newspaper chief

30 January 2006

MADRID – Four members of the terrorist group ETA were on Monday jailed for the murder of the administrative director of the newspaper Diario Vasco in 2001.

Luis Maria Carrasco Aseginolaza was jailed for the maximum sentence possible, 47 years, while Ibon Etxezarreta Etxaniz was jailed for 40.

Patxi Xabier Makazaga Azurmendi was sentenced to 18 years and Oskarbi Jauregi Amundarain got two years’ prison.

In May 2001, Makazaga ordered the killing of the newspaper director, Santiago Oleaga.

Jauregi stole a car and changed the licence plates. Etxezarreta and Carrasco waited in the car in a carpark where Oleaga parked every morning in order to attend physiotherapy at a nearby hospital.

When Oleaga parked his car and got out of it, Carrasco approached him and shot him at a distance of 30-40cm, first three times and then, once Oleaga was on the ground, he shot him in the head and the neck to make sure he was dead.

Carrasco got back into the car where Etxezarreta was waiting in the driver’s seat and they drove off. They then abandoned the car and left it containing a bomb, which later blew up the car.

The court concluded that the murder amounted to a terrorist murder in which Carrasco was the author, Etxezarreta the coauthor and Makazaga the accomplice.

The men were also ordered to compensate Oleaga’s widow with EUR 150,000 and each of his children with EUR 300,000.

[Copyright EFE with Expatica]

                                               Subject: Spanish news