Garikoitz Ibarlucea Murua, wanted by Spanish authorities, was arrested in London, denied bail

Ibarlucea, 29, was arrested Sunday in London at his workplace as a cook in a supply chain for organic products in Soho, in the centre of the British capital, after being contacted by local police.

Garikoitz Ibarlucea Murua, wanted by Spanish authorities, was arrested in London, denied bail, pending a hearing

Garikoitz Ibarlucea Murua, wanted by Spain for participating in acts of mob violence, refused today to be extradited and was arrested in London without bail, pending the conclusion of the hearing.

Ibarlucea, 29, was arrested Sunday in London at his workplace as a cook in a supply chain for organic products in Soho, in the centre of the British capital, after being contacted by local police.

He has an outstanding European arrest warrant against him for his involvement in acts of mob violence in the Basque Country between 2001 and 2002 and, after his arrest, was taken today before the Magistrates Court district of Westminster.

Ibarlucea, born in 1981 in Ibarra (Guipúzcoa), appeared for about twenty minutes before Judge Daphne Wickham, who heard, from the representative of the prosecutor, Daniel Sternberg, the crimes charged in the European Arrest Warrant (OEDE) .

That order was issued by Spain’s National Court on 10 December 2007 for a crime of belonging to a terrorist organization and links Ibarlucea to three specific episodes of street violence.

Sternberg explained that these actions constitute a crime of conspiracy to cause explosions and murder, each punishable by a maximum sentence of 16 years imprisonment. Due to "these extremely serious crimes" and because Ibarlucea was fleeing Spanish Justice, the representative of the prosecution requested that he be given no option to bail.

Ibarlucea was arrested by the Guardia Civil in October 2002 for participating in these and other acts of street violence in Guipuzcoa, but fled in 2006. Ibarlucea was arrested with seven other youths-Aritz Sudupe, Eñaut Garmendia, Ibon Arnaldo Ozaita Iosu and Mikel Jon Jimenez Goar Otegi. Four months later, in February 2003, Judge Guillermo Ruiz Polanco, instructor of the cause, freed him on bail of 6,000 euros, considering that there was no flight risk.

In October 2006 the Court sentenced the youth to prison terms of one to two years after the prosecutor originally asked between 32 and 96 years in prison for them, and defence lawyers of the defendants reached an agreement, acknowledging their participation in these events.



Let The Barcelona Reporter Know What You Think Post your comment Below




News Source © 2010 Barcelona Reporter
Text within the news headline and/or news body may be subject to copyright Barcelona Reporter does not claim copyright to any such text.unless it is written by one of our reporters :
Please refer to the URL-referenced web page (the ‘Article Source’) for further information and details of the original source from the Barcelona Reporter.com web site. Copyright remains with the original copyright holder