12/19/2007
Spain's High Court is expected to deliver verdicts on Wednesday in the trial of 52 suspects accused of aiding the armed Basque group ETA through a network of social and political organizations.
The panel of judges is set to read out verdicts, and sentences, following nearly eighteen months of testimony by hundreds of witnesses and a spider's web of arguments.
Due to the risk of the suspects trying to flee Spain, the court ordered the police to put them under detention before the convictions are announced. According to the official sources, the defendants are being sentenced to 527 years and 6 months in prison.
The case stemmed from an eight-year inquiry by Baltasar Garzon, Spain's leading anti-terror investigator. Garzon alleged that ETA was not just made up of armed commandos but also had support through political, financial and media organizations. The defendants were accused of belonging to these groups, some of which have been outlawed.
The organizations, such as banned youth groups called Ekin, Orain, Xaki and Fundación Joxemi Zumalabe engaged in activities ranging from fund-raising and helping ETA plan attacks to organizing street violence by ETA supporters, Garzon has charged.
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