Spain's Supreme Court ruled today one of the highest-profile Basque separatist prisoners must serve at least 30 years in prison, cutting short an outcry over his possible early release.
The Supreme Court used new legal reasoning for its ruling that could ensure a number of other jailed members of the ETA armed separatist group will also remain behind bars for at least 30 years.
The Supreme Court's decision comes at a delicate moment in Spain's long-running Basque conflict, with Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero recently suggesting that the beginning of the end of ETA violence may be in sight.
Frenchman Henri Parot was sentenced to 4,797 years behind bars in 1990 for his part in 26 murders and 166 attempted murders between 1978 and 1990.
He was also convicted of involvement in the 1987 bombing of a Civil Guard barracks in Zaragoza that killed 11 people.
A state prosecutor caused controversy in December by supporting Parot's argument that his sentences should be served concurrently under the 1973 penal code.
Under the law in force at the time of Parot's conviction, actual prison sentences in Spain may not exceed 30 years. Together with reductions for good behaviour, that could have made Parot eligible for parole as early as 2009, after about 20 years in prison.
Spanish media have said that another 20 ETA members, some with jail sentences of hundreds of years, were due for early release in the coming months after serving less than 20 years behind bars. They too could be affected by Monday's ruling.
ETA, considered a terrorist group by the European Union and the United States, has killed some 850 people since 1968 in its fight for Basque independence.
The outlawed group dashed speculation of an imminent ceasefire last weekend with a statement that called for political change in the Basque country but made no mention of a truce.