Several dozens protest against release of De Juana

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Madrid rally. Photo: EFE

Victims of ETA's attacks demonstrated on Saturday to protest against the release from prison of a notorious member of the armed Basque group who has completed his jail term.

At a small rally outside Donostia-San Sebastian's City Hall, several dozen protesters denounced his release from prison.

"By freeing a murderer like de Juana Chaos, the government has turned us into orphans,'' said Ruben Mugica. His father, Fernando Mugica, a prominent lawyer and Socialist politician, was shot dead by an ETA gunman in 1996.

Sonsoles Arroyo, president of an anti-ETA civic group called Dignity and Justice, said: "We are here to tell the murderers we are going to fight to end the impunity they enjoy."

In Madrid, some 150 people gathered to remember ETA victims and to protest de Juana Chaos' release. They demanded life imprisonment for ETA militants and criticized the government as soft on the armed group.

Welcome de Juana

Elsewhere in Donostia-San Sebastian, several hundred Basque leftist militants assembled in hopes of welcoming de Juana Chaos. But de Juana Chao decided to stay away, citing security concerns and a "media circus," according to a letter read aloud at the gathering. He urged relatives of other ETA militants in prison to keep fighting for their rights.

De Juan has served separate sentences for the murder of 25 people in a string of ETA attacks and for publishing threats of violence and was released On Saturday morning from Aranjuez prison south of Madrid.