The former heads of ETA 'Txapote' and 'Amaia' refuse to testify before the court trying them for the murder of Zamarreño

The councilman's daughter assures that "the hardest thing" has been seeing "their faces": "They have not regretted what they did"

The former heads of the terrorist group ETA Javier García Gaztelu, alias 'Txapote', and Irantzu Gallastegi, alias 'Amaia', have refused to testify before the National Court that is trying them for the bomb murder of the PP councilor in Rentería (Guipúzcoa) Manuel Zamarreño on June 25, 1998, an attack that also caused injuries of varying degrees to an Ertzaintza bodyguard.

"I'm not going to testify, I'm not going to participate, I'm not going to answer," 'Txapote' snapped in Basque, ruling out answering the questions from both the Prosecutor's Office, the accusations and his own defense. 'Amaia', for its part, has followed the same dynamic and announced that it would remain silent.

The Public Ministry requests 120 years in prison for each of them for one crime of terrorist murder of a member of a local corporation, another of attempted terrorist murder against an agent, two crimes of attempted terrorist murder, a crime of possession, manufacture, transportation and placement of an explosive and a crime of terrorist attacks.

In statements to the press after the trial, Zamarreño's daughter stated that "the hardest thing of all" was seeing the "faces and looks" of 'Txapote' and 'Amaia'. "They have not regretted what they did," she lamented, recognizing that "the mere fact that 25 years later" the oral hearing could be held is "an achievement" for them. "We don't know what's going to happen, but we've come this far," she added.

The first session of the oral hearing served to hear the testimony of the person who was Zamarreño's bodyguard at the time of the fatal attack. The Ertzaintza agent explained that on the day of the events he had met with the then 'popular' councilor to accompany him to a party meeting in San Sebastián.

"We went down a staircase, I went ahead to go out through a section without visibility and he followed me behind. I slowed down so that he could pass me and, when I saw that he did not pass me, I saw that he was crossing the opposite sidewalk where the kiosk where was. He was going to buy bread. I followed him, I accompanied him and he didn't go to the kiosk," he said.

Instead, Zamarreño "advanced and turned toward the bakery." "I let him buy the bread and I waited for him in the small square. He bought the bread and, when he came out, I let him pass me. I was four meters behind him and we didn't advance even ten meters. When we reached the gate of that street is when the explosion occurred," he detailed.

In those first seconds, the guard went "blind, unconscious" and suffered a "ruptured eardrums." When he recovered, he felt himself and found that he "had injuries all over his body" due to shrapnel. "When I was able to lean on a car, I put my hands in and I was missing pieces of muscle in my chest. I could feel how the blood was falling all over my body," he added.

After the attack, which cost Zamarreño his life, the bodyguard had to undergo "eye surgery" and also underwent ear reconstruction. The explosion, as detailed by the official who prepared the first report, was caused "with an explosive charge" of between two and three kilos that was "placed on a moped."

The court was also able to hear the testimony of the first agent of the Basque regional police who went to the scene of the attack. "We heard a loud explosion, we saw smoke, we went there and there were two people on the ground who were injured. We notified it and started to cordon off the area," she said.

INSTRUCTIONS TO KILL MEMBERS OF THE PP

The Public Ministry points out in its provisional conclusions that, after receiving "the instruction from the terrorist group to kill members of the Popular Party," both defendants set their sights on Zamarreño.

"To carry out their murderous plan, they decided to place an explosive device on a motorcycle that they would park on public roads in a place close to the one they were traveling through, assuming the risk of affecting, not only property, but life. of third parties, and, especially, of the police officer who carried out escort duties for him," he points out.

The Prosecutor's Office explains that the device that both defendants made "was placed in a cloth bag" that they "simulatedly placed" in the vehicle. It was that day in June 1998 when the terrorists activated it, causing the death of the then 'popular' leader and causing injuries to his bodyguard.

It was in September 2022 when the National Court agreed to send the two former ETA heads to trial. It is worth remembering that both 'Txapote' and his partner, 'Amaia', have been convicted by the National Court for their participation as members of the 'Donosti commando', in the kidnapping and crime of the PP councilor in Ermua Miguel Ángel Blanco in July 1997, a criminal action framed by ETA blackmailing the State to bring ETA prisoners to Basque prisons and which was perpetrated days after the release of prison official José Antonio Ortega Lara.

EXTENSIVE CRIMINAL HISTORY

The list of fatalities from 'Txapote' is completed by Alfonso Morcillo Calero, Mariano de Juan Santamaría, José Ignacio Iruretagoyena, José Luis López de la Calle, Jorge Díez Elorza, José Javier Múgica Astibia, Irene Fernández Perera, José Ángel de Jesús Encinas, Enrique Nieto Viyella and Máximo Casado Carrera; also for the attempted murder of Ramón Rabanera and José Ramón Recalde, as well as an attack against a nightclub.

Gallastegui, for her part, is also sentenced to a cumulative sentence of 30 years. In her case, she entered prison on June 14, 2005 for the crimes of attacks and murders, possession of explosives, terrorist attacks and arson. She is scheduled to serve three-quarters in November of this year for killing Miguel Ángel Blanco, Fernando Múgica Herzog and José Ignacio Iruretagoyena.