He was tried in April and accused of renting an apartment to ETA in 2005, in the French city of Vichi, and of being a member of ETA, which he has always denied. He is exempt from punishment because of the time that has passed since the events (19 years) and because he has become socially established. Urrutikoetxea will not appeal.
The appeals court in Paris today ruled against the case Egoitz Urrutikoetxeafor which he is convicted membership of ETA after renting a safehouse in Vichy (center) in 2005, no need to serve time. Urrutikoetxea is satisfied and will not appeal.
In the trial that took place on April 25, Egoitz admitted that he had used Urrutikoetxea false documentation to rent the Vichy apartment and a parking space because ETA requested it. But he insisted he did “in the context of the negotiations” who then carried out the bond with the Spanish government, specifically so that they could meet the Spanish executive and prepare negotiations.
Urrutikoetxea He denied having been a member of the now extinct ETA and insisted he had “never” been underground.
In his case, he passed by the apartment “a few times” but did not know why it was abandoned months later by the members of the gang who occupied it.
However, the prosecutor believed that there were “solid links” between him and other members who had already been convicted of terrorist activities and who, like him, passed through the Vichy floor. The Paris Court of Appeal agrees with him.
The Public Prosecution Service had requested a guilty verdict, but took this into account The events had taken place 19 years ago and that was the suspect socially insertedthat the sentence was exempt from compliance for two years, meaning that the option of going to prison was open only in case of recidivism.
Now that he has been acquitted of his sentence, Urrutikoetxea has no outstanding accounts with the French Ministry of Justice.
Egoitz Urrutikoetxea, who turns 50 in June and is a French national, was wanted and captured for years until he was arrested on October 6, 2015 in Saint Denis, a town on the outskirts of Paris where he was living under his real identity.
Before that, he had been convicted in absentia three times for his membership of ETA. But as was his right, he asked that the trials be repeated in his presence and those verdicts were annulled.
In the first of these repeated trials, he was sentenced in November 2021 to two years in prison, exempt from serving his office, but not as a member of ETA, but for links to members of the then active ETA, between 2003 and 2005, and in particular because of his relationships with “eminent members”, especially of the military establishment.
Source: EITB
I am Ida Scott, a journalist and content author with a passion for uncovering the truth. I have been writing professionally for Today Times Live since 2020 and specialize in political news. My career began when I was just 17; I had already developed a knack for research and an eye for detail which made me stand out from my peers.
