Security forces detain son of key ETA leader in Paris

Security forces in Paris have arrested Egoitz Urrutikoetxea, the son of Josu Urrutikoetxea, who is considered to be the leader of Basque separatist group ETA, the Spanish Interior Ministry confirmed on Tuesday.

The arrest took place in the San Denis district of Paris, where Urrutikoetxea had been living for around a year.

There had been arrest warrants for him from 2007 and 2009 and he had two four-year-sentences hanging over him for his links with separatist group ETA, whose 40-year armed struggle for the independence of the Basque region in the north of Spain and the southwest of France, claimed 829 lives.

He is considered to be an important member of ETA's political organization, which has remained active even though the group announced a permanent ceasefire in November 2011.

This is the second operation against ETA's political organization in France in a fortnight and follows the arrest of four people, including David Pla and Iratxe Sorzabal in the southwestern French town of Saint-Etienne de Baigorry.

Pla and Sorzabal, who along with Josu Urrutikoetxea, (who is better known as Josu Ternera), are considered to be the three leaders of ETA, are now in custody in France. At the time of their arrest, Spain's Interior Minister Jorge Fernandez Diaz said the operation marked was a "death certificate" for ETA and Urrutikoetxea's detention is another blow to the already heavily weakened organization. Endit