Spain Sentences 17 Separatists
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MADRID — Spain’s high court on Monday convicted and sentenced 17 members or collaborators of the violent Basque separatist group ETA, in a victory for authorities who have been cracking down on the outlawed organization.
Among those sentenced was Inaki Bilbao, who received a 101-year term even though the maximum sentence one can serve in Spain is 30 years, court sources said.
The other 16 sentences added up to 283 years.
Bilbao and the others were arrested in 1998 when police broke up an ETA cell in Vizcaya, one of three provinces that make up Basque country in northern Spain.
ETA, which stands for Basque Homeland and Freedom, is listed as a terrorist organization by the European Union and the U.S. It has killed more than 800 people since 1968 in its drive for an independent state in Basque areas of northern Spain and southwestern France.
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