'Txapote', Blanco's killer, faces the final stretch of his 30-year sentence from a Madrid prison without regret

Framed in the 'hard wing', he is not expected to be released before 2031, like his partner Gallastegui Sodupe

MADRID, 8 Jul. (EUROPA PRESS) -

Francisco Javier García Gaztelu, alias 'Txapote', and his partner Irantzu Gallastegui Sodupe, 'Amaia', both convicted as material authors of the ETA attack that ended the life of Miguel Ángel Blanco 25 years ago, face from the Madrid prison VII-Estremera the final stretch of his accumulated sentences of 30 years for this crime that marked the beginning of the end for the terrorist group.

'Txapote', one of ETA's bloodiest terrorists, and his partner were transferred in March 2021 from the Huelva prison to the Estremera prison within the policy of rapprochement promoted by the Ministry of the Interior since the arrival of Pedro Sánchez to the Presidency of the Government in mid-2018.

According to legal sources consulted by Europa Press, the expected date for the discharge of 'Txapote' conviction is provisionally set for February 14, 2031, for which he still has at least nine years of sentence remaining since he entered prison on December 15, 2005. In the case of 'Amaia', with whom he has two children, the date for the end of his sentence is scheduled for May 22, 2032.

25 years after murdering Miguel Ángel Blanco, García Gaztelu continues to serve a sentence for 14 murders, including that of Gregorio Ordóñez, Fernando Múgica Herzog or Fernando Buesa. His release from prison is not expected before 2031, according to the aforementioned legal and prison sources, in a calculation that may vary on the expected date depending on the calculation made by the judges based on the time spent as preventive or the redemptions provided by the Criminal Code of 1995.

'Txapote', arrested in France in 2001, is part of the 'hard wing' of the terrorist group, having never shown remorse for his crimes. According to the sources consulted by Europa Press, at present he remains outside the official group of prisoners, since he does not share the political line marked by the nationalist left after the defeat of ETA, but he does not participate in the critical current either.

The sentence of the National Court considered proven the participation of 'Txapote' and his partner, members of the 'Donosti command', in the kidnapping and crime of the PP councilor in Ermua in July 1997, a criminal action framed in a blackmail to the State of ETA to bring ETA prisoners closer to Basque prisons and which was perpetrated days after the release of prison official José Antonio Ortega Lara.

The court confirmed that Miguel Ángel's death occurred "by means of two firearm shots fired from behind and at a short distance above his head, while his hands were tied." The sentence reflected the "indifference and contempt" towards the judges of 'Txapote' and prohibited the terrorists from approaching Ermua or the place where the victim's relatives reside for five years after his release. 500,000 euros was imposed for civil liability, which must be paid to the State.

Due to a pending case in a preventive situation -in 2020 he was prosecuted for the murder of the PP councilor Manuel Zamarreño, which occurred in 1998--, 'Txapote' is currently in the ordinary regime in Estremera, which is equivalent to the classification in the second degree, like the rest of the 179 ETA members who continue to serve sentences in Spanish prisons and who, before the current Executive, did so in the first degree, the most restrictive.

In fact, almost three out of four ETA members are already serving sentences in prisons in the Basque Country or Navarra. This is not the case of 'Txapote', who has an accumulated sentence of 30 years for the crimes of murders, attacks, illegal detention, weapons storage, document falsification, havoc, fire, robbery and damage.

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 on a nightclub.

He is serving three quarters of his sentence in August 2023, according to Penitentiary Institutions when he agreed to transfer to Estremera. In November 2020, the Huelva prison management removed him from the isolation module, which meant that he could coincide with a greater number of prisoners in the yard.

Gallastegui Sodupe, partner of 'Txapote', is also sentenced to an accumulated sentence of 30 years. In her case, she entered prison on June 14, 2005 for the crimes of attack and murder, possession of explosives, havoc and terrorist fires. She is scheduled to serve three-quarters of her sentence in November 2024 for killing Miguel Ángel Blanco, Fernando Múgica Herzog and José Ignacio Iruretagoyena.

In a recent report, the Civil Guard pointed out that the ETA leadership that formed the 'zuba' in the 1990s was responsible for the attack against Miguel Ángel Blanco: José Javier Arizcuren, alias 'Kantauri'; María Soledad Iparraguirre, 'Anboto'; Mikel Albisu, 'Mikel Antza' and Ignacio Gracia Arregui, 'Iñaki de Rentería'. The judge of the National Court Manuel García Castellón has summoned all of them --except 'Iñaki de Rentería', for considering the crimes prescribed-- for planning the kidnapping and murder of the councilor.

'Kantauri' --predecessor of 'Txapote' as head of the ETA commandos-- is another of the band's historical figures who faces the final stretch of his 30-year sentence for the crimes of murder, attack, kidnapping, arms depot , illegal arrest and forgery. He entered prison on December 17, 2001.

He reaches three quarters of the sentence in June 2025, according to Penitentiary Institutions when he approved his transfer from the Murcia prison to the Logroño prison in November 2020, although weeks later, after suffering a heart attack, they decided that he enter the prison from Pamplona.

María Soledad Iparraguirre, 'Anboto', has been in the Zaballa prison in Álava since mid-2021, as announced by the support group for Etxerat ETA prisoners. In Spain, she has a dozen cases pending for which she has already accumulated sentences of more than 400 years in prison for different ETA attacks tried in the National High Court.

The former head of finances for ETA was handed over in 2019 by France, the country in which she was arrested in 2004 along with her partner, the then head of the terrorist group's political apparatus, Mikel Albisu, alias 'Mikel Antza'. The latter was released last January after the French Justice imposed 20-year prison sentences on both of them in December 2010.

Ignacio Gracia Arregui, alias 'Iñaki de Rentería', was released in July 2011. He was being investigated for evidence linking him to the order to prolong the kidnapping of prison official José Antonio Ortega Lara.

In the National High Court, new cases are brought against him, as well as against 'Mikel Antza' or José Antonio Urrutikoetxea, alias 'Josu Ternera', since victims' associations point to them as 'masterminds' of the T-4 attack in Barajas , that of the Zaragoza barracks or the murder of Gregorio Ordóñez.