The ETA member 'Txeroki' arrives in Spain to be tried for a car bomb attack in Bilbao in 2002

He will remain in prison in Soto del Real, in Madrid

The French authorities handed over ETA member Mikel Garikoitz Aspiazu Rubina, alias 'Txeroki', to Spain on Monday to be tried at the National High Court. Police sources have confirmed to Europa Press that the former leader of the terrorist organization ETA is already on Spanish soil and that he will remain in prison in Soto del Real (Madrid).

According to what El Correo has published, one of the cases for which 'Txeroki' is being prosecuted is an attack committed in Bilbao in 2002. On that occasion, the explosion of a car bomb in the center of the city caused considerable material damage. It is expected that the National Court will judge him on September 13 for this fact, although the ETA member will have to appear several times before the judicial body.

'Txeroki' arrives in Spain after the judges requested the transfer to France for at least six months, but the Paris Court of Appeal agreed to the delivery for two months, according to the regional newspaper.

This temporary delivery by France falls within the normal relationship of collaboration between both countries. In fact, 'Txeroki' has been transferred to Spain on several occasions to answer for various attacks.

One of them occurred in 2009, shortly after his arrest. He then already appeared before the Spanish Justice to testify for five attacks committed by ETA between January and February 2002, in which he acted as leader of the 'K-Olaia command'.

He also sat on the bench of those accused of the National Court for the attack committed against the Bilbao Stock Exchange on March 4, 2002. His only words during the trial, in which he faced 10 years in prison and from which he left acquitted, were: "I do not authorize to judge the citizens of the Basque Country and I am not going to answer any questions".

In June 2015 he was also transferred from Marseille to Madrid so that the First Section of the Criminal Chamber of the National High Court tried him for crimes of havoc, robbery and possession of explosives for terrorist purposes.

In addition to sitting him on the defendant's bench, the National Court has taken advantage of these temporary deliveries to testify as a defendant in open cases or to notify him in person of prosecutions.

In fact, in 2019 the judge of the National Court Santiago Pedraz informed 'Txeroki' that he was prosecuting him as the intellectual author of the attack on Terminal 4 of the Barajas airport, which ended the 2006 truce and in which two people died .

Pedraz thus took advantage of the temporary delivery of 'Txeroki' from France to be tried for the murder of Judge José María Lidón --for which he was finally acquitted-- to inform him, in person and in court, of the indictment issued more than ten years for the attack in Barajas.

THE CAREER OF 'TXEROKI'

Mikel Garikoitz Aspiazu Rubina, alias 'Arrano' and 'Txeroki', was born in Bilbao 49 years ago and began his participation in the ETA terrorist group in 2000, as a collaborator with the 'Ituren command'. He would later join the 'Vizcaya commando' to which several attacks committed between 2001 and 2003 are attributed. From 2003 until his arrest in 2008 he was the military chief of ETA.

'Txeroki' was arrested in Cauterets (in the French Pyrenees) on November 17, 2008 as a result of an operation against the leadership of the terrorist group. During his leadership of the commandos he had a direct confrontation with the then 'number one' of the band, the now deceased, Javier López Peña, alias 'Thierry'. Despite having already been tried and sentenced in France where he is in prison, Aspiazu Rubina has also been investigated for numerous causes in Spain.