Madrid, Spain – French authorities handed over to Spain on Tuesday a former leading member of the armed Basque separatist group ETA who police blame for killing at least 15 people and planning several major attacks.
Jose Javier Arizcuren Ruiz, also known as “Kantauri,” was arrested in Paris in 1999 and served time in a French prison on charges of being a member of an armed group.
In 2002, Arizcuren Ruiz was sentenced to a total of 72 years in jail in three trials in Spain. France handed him over temporarily for the trials.
A police statement Tuesday said Arizcuren Ruiz was responsible for at least 15 killings and helped plan several attacks including a foiled 1985 assassination attempt on King Juan Carlos and a car-bomb attack on former conservative Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar in 1995, while he was in opposition.
Arizcuren Ruiz’s extradition comes as ETA continues to abide by a cease-fire it announced on March 22. Arizcuren Ruiz is said to have been opposed to the cease-fire.
Last weekend, ETA warned the Spanish government that the peace process initiated with the cease-fire was in crisis and that the group may respond if police continue pressuring its members and supporters.
ETA – Basque Homeland and Freedom – is accused of killing more than 800 people since 1968 in a violent campaign for independence from Spain. Its last fatal attack was in May 2003, when a car bomb killed two policemen in the northern town of Sanguesa.
