The National Police has delivered the report that the National Court was waiting for to decide on the prosecution of the ETA leadership for the kidnapping and murder of Miguel Ángel Blanco. The 160-page document directly points to the four accused leaders as the most responsible. They are Ignacio Gracia Arregui, Iñaki de Rentería; Mikel Albisu, Mikel Antza; José Javier Arizcuren Ruiz, Kantauri; and Soledad Iparraguirre, Anboto.
Judge Manuel García Castellón was awaiting the report to resolve whether he proposes to try the four top leaders of the Executive Committee of the terrorist group at the time of the murder. The conclusions reached by the National Police lead to this being so: "The members of the Executive Committee had the capacity to decide the specific execution of a terrorist action. Furthermore, in the case of attempting to attack special objectives, the Directorate of ETA had to give its authorization. Regarding the assassination of PP politicians/councillors, there was an express order to a generality of commandos, including Donosti, which was directly responsible in the specific case of Miguel Ángel Blanco."
Along the lines of the report that the Civil Guard has already presented in court, the Police indicates that the four investigated on which the investigating judge has requested the report were "the most responsible" of the three apparatuses that in July 1997 formed the dome terrorist: the military (Iñaki de Rentería, Anboto and Kantauri), the politician (Mikel Antza) and the logistician (Iñaki de Rentería).
According to the researchers, the Executive Committee "worked collegiately" and it made "unanimously strategic and sometimes operational and tactical decisions." This function included not only "the determination of the political and military strategic line, but also the design, planning, coordination, direction and sometimes also the order or authorization to carry out the terrorist attacks that were carried out by the operational commands," add the document.
The investigators trace back the decision to assassinate Blanco to 1992, when the fall of the ETA leadership in Bidart (France) led ETA to impose "a new offensive strategy aimed at achieving a much more intense confrontation with the State." The Executive Committee, through the Military Apparatus, "ordered its commands to have as a priority objective attacking political representatives, especially those of the PP."
Thus, Miguel Ángel Blanco became a target of the ETA organization as a whole, and not only of the Donosti command, for being a member of the Popular Party". In their conclusions, the Police highlighted that during the three days of kidnapping the ETA leadership had in his hand to prevent the murder.
The report comes a few weeks after the Court made a decision relevant to the case. The court reviewing the investigation of the case refused to consider the facts regarding Iñaki de Rentería prescribed, despite the fact that the complaint against him was filed 24 years after the death of Blanco, thus exceeding the 20-year statute of limitations then in force. The court held that there are other possible interpretations on how this term should be computed and considered that the matter of the prescription should be left in the hands of the court in charge of holding the eventual trial.
The case for the murder of Blanco was reactivated as a result of a complaint filed by Dignity and Justice. This is one of the various cases that have been opened in recent years in which the victims of terrorism seek that the ETA leaders are also sentenced for attacks carried out by the commandos. In the case of the Ermua councilor, the perpetrators, among them Javier García Gaztelu, 'Txapote', have already been sentenced by the National Court.
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