16 arrested in Spanish police operation against ETA

Spanish Civil Guards arrested 16 people in the early hours on Monday morning in an operation against lawyers and those responsible for the finances of what is known as the Prison Front of the Basque radical group Euskadi Ta Askatasuna (ETA).

The arrests took place in the Basque provinces of Gipuzkoa and Vizcaya, as well as in the neighboring community of Navarre and also in Madrid. Police have informed that among those arrested is the lawyer and spokesperson of the pro-independence political party Sortu, Amaia Izko.

The arrests are related to the organization's economic arm which is mainly involved in giving support to the hundreds of members of ETA who are currently serving sentences in Spanish and French prisons.

Those arrested have been accused of having links to a terrorist organization and of passing on its instructions to those in prison, as well as money laundering and tax evasion.

The arrests were accompanied by a series of searches in an office in Bilbao and also of three social centers known as Herriko Tabernas.

The operation also takes place just two days after an estimated 70,000 people marched through Bilbao to protest against the government's policy to disperse ETA prisoners to prisons throughout Spain, asking for them to instead be housed in prisons in or close to the Basque region.

ETA's armed struggle for the independence of the Basque region has so far cost over 800 lives since its inception in 1959. However, the political group called a definitive ceasefire in the run up to the 2011 general election and has not carried out any operations since then. Endit