Miguel Ángel Blanco's sister asks to ignore Iñaki de Rentería's appeal against his accusation for a formal ruling

Alleges that it should not be considered filed because it did not meet the formal requirements and the term has already expired

MADRID, 30 Nov. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The sister of Miguel Ángel Blanco, who is the private prosecutor in the investigation being carried out in the National Court (AN) into the kidnapping and murder of the young PP councilor in Ermua at the hands of ETA in 1997, has asked the court that does not consider the appeal filed by the former ETA leader Ignacio Miguel Gracia Arregui, alias 'Iñaki de Rentería', due to a formal defect that would already be irremediable.

Marimar Blanco is addressing a reform appeal, presented by her lawyer Miguel Ángel Rodríguez Arias, against the order issued on November 23 by the Central Investigating Court Number 6, where "an appeal is filed in due time and form "against a previous resolution of its owner, Manuel García Castellón.

In the reform appeal, to which Europa Press has had access, Blanco's sister asks that the appeal of 'Iñaki de Rentería' not be considered filed because he did not previously transfer it to the private prosecution, a "clear legal duty" imposed by article 276 of the LEC.

The lawyer explains, citing numerous Supreme Court and Constitutional jurisprudence, that it is a formal defect that cannot be remedied since on November 18 the deadline for appealing García Castellón's decision expired and, at this point, the legal set to amend this procedural ruling.

Thus, he maintains that the appeal of 'Iñaki de Rentería' should be ignored and, consequently, the order of November 10 for which he was investigated should be considered final.

"It will be deemed not filed for all purposes, because in truth it has not been filed in accordance with law and basic procedural rules that no intervening professional can be unaware of," he says.

Rodríguez Arias emphasizes that it is an error solely attributable to the defense of the former ETA member and this, he emphasizes, despite the fact that he has "legal advice" from up to five lawyers.

It also draws attention to the fact that 'Iñaki de Rentería' filed his appeal "at the very last moment", just three hours before the deadline to do so expired, with which he "decided to place himself in a such a situation in which not even the court itself could help him in any way".

"We simply limit ourselves to verifying what apparently --not-- acted in due time and form by the (party) opposite. Not at first, but not at a second moment, twice, when he had the same procedural opportunity to have acted in both", he summarizes.

García Castellón reopened the case last March after admitting a complaint from Dignity and Justice - also signed by Rodríguez Arias - that seeks to condemn those who formed the executive committee of ETA or Zuba when the crime was committed.

The judge has already called the former ETA bosses Miguel Albisu, 'Mikel Antza', to testify; María Soledad Iparraguirre, 'Anboto'; and José Javier Arizcuren, 'Kantauri'; although all of them accepted their right not to testify, the last two arguing that France has not authorized their surrender for these events.

At the request of the instructor, the Civil Guard has already issued a report in which it holds the former ETA leaders responsible for the death of the young councilor because it considers that an order from them could have prevented it.

It should be remembered that, in the case of the murder of Blanco, the National Court already sentenced in 2006 to 50 years in prison the former ETA leader Francisco Javier García Gaztelu, 'Txapote', and his sentimental partner and member of ETA Irantzu Gallastegui, 'Amaia ', as material authors.

In its ruling, the court stated that both "planned and carried out the kidnapping and subsequent murder of Miguel Ángel Blanco, following the guidelines of the leadership of the terrorist organization ETA, whose most immediate objectives were the kidnapping of a PP councilor to demand, in exchange for their release, the bringing of the gang's prisoners to prisons in the Basque Country".