Spain's minister says ETA defeated by security forces, rule of law

MADRID, May 2 (Xinhua) -- Spain's Minister of Interior, Juan Ignacio Zoido, said that the Basque separatist terrorist group ETA had been defeated by "the security forces, rule of law, the Spanish society and the judiciary".

According to local media, Zoido made the statement after ETA confirmed its dissolution earlier, saying they had dissolved all structures of the group.

Zoido assured that there would be no "impunity" and "before and after this communique, they will be pursued wherever they are in order to be arrested".

"They must pay for what they did," he said about the group, which had killed 829 people in its struggle to establish an independent state in Spain's northern Basque region and south west corner of France.

The Secretary of Organization at the Socialist Party, Jose Luis Abalos, said ETA was mistaken when talking about a conflict between two, "they are a criminal organization, a terrorist group", he insisted, adding that they were defeated by democracy.

ETA assured on Wednesday they dissolved all structures and stopped its political initiative.

In 2010, ETA announced the end of its armed struggle and in April 2017 they handed over their weapons in a ceremony held in the French city of Bayonne. It was born in 1959 under the dictatorship of Spanish General Francisco Franco. Enditem