SPAIN:Spanish police arrested the leader of banned Basque separatist party Batasuna for praising terrorism yesterday, just three days after Eta rebels called off a ceasefire.
Arnaldo Otegi was arrested in the northern city of San Sebastian, where he had been due to give a news conference, after Spain's Supreme Court confirmed a 15-month prison sentence for praising Eta terrorism, a Batasuna official said.
His arrest came just three days after Eta broke off a ceasefire it had declared in March last year, and promised to act "on all fronts" to attack the Spanish government in its fight for independence of the Basque Country.
Otegi had been sentenced last year for appearing at a demonstration in 2003 to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the death of an Eta rebel. But it had looked likely he would avoid jail as long as Eta continued peace talks.
Batasuna is banned because of its links to Eta but had been expected to take part in consultations over the region's future if the peace talks had been successful.
Spanish prime minister José Luis Rodriguez Zapatero called off the talks when the rebels, impatient at the slow pace of talks, exploded a bomb at Madrid airport in December, killing two people.
Eta has killed more than 800 people in four decades of an armed struggle. Polls show most people in the Basque Country, which already has considerable autonomy, wish to remain part of Spain.