Spain orders Eta convict's release
Spain's high court sets a convicted Basque militant free,
after a European court ruled prison work should have contributed to her
early release.
An activist holds a placard which reads "This murderer will be free", alongside a picture of Ines Del Rio
Spanish
judges have ordered the release of a convicted Basque militant, after
the European Court of Human Rights ruled against her continued
detention.
Ines del Rio, of the separatist group Eta, has been serving a 30-year sentence for bomb attacks in the 1980s.The High Court backed the ruling of a Strasbourg court on Monday against Spanish laws that denied her right to earn remission through prison work.
Spain says dozens of Eta prisoners could now be eligible for release.
Monday's Strasbourg ruling "gives us no choice", concluded a prosecutors' report at the High Court requesting Del Rio's immediate release, reported El Pais newspaper.
The penal chamber subsequently ordered her immediate release. Del Rio is expected to be freed from a prison in A Coruna, north-western Spain, later on Tuesday.
Groups representing victims of Eta's bloody four-decade campaign for independence for regions of northern Spain and south-west France denounced the Strasbourg ruling in protests on Monday, while supporters of the prisoners held marches in favour.
Eta declared an end to its armed campaign in 2011.
Parot doctrine Del Rio was arrested in 1987 for her part in 23 murders and car bombings carried out by Eta.
The Strasbourg ruling triggered protests both in support - like this march in San Sebastian on Monday - and against
Del Rio earned sentence reductions through prison work, making her eligible for release in July 2008 - but two years earlier the High Court applied what is known as the "Parot doctrine" to extend her detention.
Under this doctrine, sentence reductions are applied to the sentences for individual crimes - collectively amounting to 3,828 years - rather than the overall 30-year maximum stay.
It meant Del Rio's release would be postponed until 2017.
But on Monday the European Court of Human Rights, upholding a July 2012 ruling in favour of Del Rio, condemned Spain for this practice and ordered Spain to ensure her immediate release and to pay her 30,000 euros (£25,400; $41,000) in compensation.
Although the Strasbourg court's ruling only applies to Del Rio, the Spanish government says dozens of other convicted Eta members could be eligible for release.
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