SUPREME court judge ruled yesterday that a former interior minister, Mr Jose Barrionuevo, implicated in the government's "dirty war" against Basque separatists, should remain free on a 15 million peseta (£78,000) bail.
Judicial sources described they've as a preventive measure to give the judge more time to determine on what charges to indict Mr Barrionuevo, who despite the scandal is still expected to run on the Socialist list in elections on March 3rd.
The investigations continue into allegations about the so called GAL hit squads blamed for killing at least 22 Basque separatists during the 1980s, some across the border in France.
Mr Barrionucvo has denied any involvement in GAL which stands for anti terrorist liberation groups as the scandal has crept deep into the corridors of power and even brought suspicion upon the Socialist Prime Minister, Mr Felipe Gonzalez.
The GAL case has combined with a spate of corruption scandals to undermine Mr Gonzalez's hold on power and force him to call early elections, which he is expected to lose to the right.
Mr Barrionuevo, who was interior minister from 1982 to 1988, has had his passport confiscated, is barred from leaving the country and must report to the court twice a month.
He has condemned the measures as exaggerated", saying he had done nothing wrong and had always "defended constitutional values" to ensure "less cruelty and less violence" in Spain.
But attorneys for the plaintiffs urged Judge Moner last week to indict Mr Barrionuevo on charges of illegal detention, setting up armed bands and embezzling, saying that recent testimony "fully shows" that he is guilty.
A former Socialist Party leader, Mr Ricardo Garcia Damborenea, who is also free on bail, clashed with Mr Barrionuevo in testimony before the Supreme Court last week, accusing the former minister of taking part in GAL and citing a meeting of party members near Madrid in 1983 when he said Mr Barrionucvo had spoken out in support of a "dirty war" against the Basque terrorist group ETA.
Similar testimony against Mr Barrionuevo was also made in December by a former police chief, Mr Francisco Alvarez, and the former head of the state security organisation, Mr Julian Sancristobal, who are also being prosecuted.