The National Court refuses to suspend the case against the former head of ETA 'Ata' for the murder of Giménez Abad

The court explains that it will not request its delivery to France until a date is set for the oral hearing

MADRID, 27 Ene. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The Criminal Chamber of the National Court (AN) has refused to suspend the proceedings against the last military chief of ETA, Mikel Carrera Sarobe, alias 'Ata', for the murder of the former president of the PP in Aragon Manuel Giménez Abad.

In an order of this Wednesday, collected by Europa Press, the magistrates of the First Section dismissed the article of previous pronouncement raised by the defense of Carrera Sarobe in the hearing held last Friday at the National Court. In it, the ETA member opposed being tried, recalling that he was not handed over by France for these events.

The court explains that there is "no place for the suspension of the procedure without prejudice to requesting, at the appropriate procedural moment, the temporary delivery of the defendant for prosecution in this summary." That is why the Chamber gives a term for his representation to present its provisional conclusions brief.

However, the magistrates explain that before requesting his delivery to France and being able to sit him on the defendant's bench "it will be necessary to set dates for the trial." "And this cannot be done without previously knowing the evidence proposed by the parties that are admitted," they point out.

It should be remembered that the then head of the Central Investigating Court Number 1, Santiago Pedraz, prosecuted Carrera Sarobe and Miren Itxaso Zaldua, also an ETA member, for an alleged crime of terrorist murder committed in 2001 against Giménez Abad.

In their indictment, the family of Giménez Abad, who exercises the private prosecution, asks to impose penalties of 30 years in prison on Carrera Sarobe and Itxaso and the prohibition of approaching the city of Zaragoza to less than 1 kilometer for 5 years. In addition, they request that they have to jointly and severally compensate the widow and each of the four children of the leader in the amount of 250,000 euros to each of them.

Giménez Abad's relatives accuse 'Ata' of shooting Giménez Abad "in the back and at point blank range" "in the presence of his underage son." Itxaso, for his part, "waited in the vicinity of the place" while his partner carried out the deadly attack.

The Dignidad y Justicia (DyJ) association, which exercises popular prosecution, has requested that the same sentence be imposed for both ETA members: 30 years in prison. In addition, they ask that they not be able to approach Zaragoza and the place of residence of the widow and children of Giménez Abad, as well as to communicate or approach them for 10 years.

It should be remembered that 'Ata' already has two life sentences in France for the murder in 2010 of the French gendarme Jean Serge Nerin, who was the last fatality of the gang, and of the civil guards Raúl Centeno and Fernando Trapero in Capbreton in 2007 Specifically, the neighboring country established life imprisonment with the obligation that he spend at least 22 years in prison.

The ETA member was arrested on May 20, 2010 in a flat in Bayonne (France) together with two of his collaborators. He belonged to the tough sector of the ETA leadership and was a faithful ally of 'Txeroki', then in charge of commandos, in the confrontation he had with the late Javier López Peña, 'Thierry', the man who from the leadership of the 'political apparatus ' frustrated the negotiation with the Government of José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero.