Body of ETA member Anza Jon, who disappeared eleven months ago found in a Toulouse hospital

Since he died of natural causes, it was not deemed necessary to opened any legal proceedings or alert the police, although the body was stored in the morgue with the only reference that it was an unidentified man, pending it could be traced to some family.

Body of ETA member Anza Jon, who disappeared eleven months ago found in a Toulouse hospital

The body of ETA member Jon Ortúñez Anza, missing since April 18 last year, has been located in a hospital in Toulouse where he died fifteen days after being hospitalized for a stroke, according to counterterrorism sources.

The ETA member was identified through fingerprints and wore clothing that was consistent with that he wore when his disappearance occurred. French police have reported finding him at half-past five o'clock, though they will officially confirm tomorrow, that it is the body of the ETA member.

The cause of death was a stroke which he suffered when he was in the streets of Toulouse on April 29. An ambulance picked him up and took him to a hospital where he was admitted in serious condition. Anza was detained for fifteen days until death occurred.

Among his belongings there was no identifying documents. He had two train tickets, one corresponding to the 18th, confirming that he had made the journey between Bayonne and Toulouse.

Sources indicated that at the time his body bore no external injuries, or signs of violence. Since he died of natural causes, it was not deemed necessary to opened any legal proceedings or alert the police, although the body was stored in the morgue with the only reference that it was an unidentified man, pending it could be traced to some family.

This situation continued until yesterday when the hospital noticed the police that the body remained unidentified in the morgue and no one had claimed it. This morning, police officers went to the French health centre and they took fingerprints, which revealed that he was the missing Jon Ortúñez Anza.

Jon Anza left on April 18 from the station in Bayonne to Toulouse where he had an appointment with other members of the terrorist organization. According to ETA, Anza did not attend the appointment or another appointment that was scheduled a few days later.

It is unknown what might make the ETA member between day 18 and day 29 which was found in the street to heart attack and so far not been informed whether his belongings was money that had to deliver to other members the terrorist group.

Anza, a native of San Sebastian, was arrested in February 1982 accused of being part of "Lau Haizeta command" at ETA who spent more than twenty years in prison until his release on 3 November 2002. After his release he lived in Guipúzcoa and then moved to the town of Ahetze, in the French Basque country, where he resided legally.

Since the disappearance ETA have indulged in an intensive campaign of accusations blaming the Spanish police of kidnapping Anza. Over the past eleven months they have held numerous demonstrations and protests against the Spanish and French authorities. Versions have been issued stating that Spanish police agents had kidnapped him and he had died during their attempts.



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