London - A leading convicted member of the militant Basque separatist group ETA, who is wanted by Spain, will fight his extradition from Britain, a court in Northern Ireland was told Monday. Ignacio de Juana Chaos, 53, appeared at the Recorder's Court in Belfast Monday after surrendering for "arrest by agreement" ahead of the proceedings.
Defence barrister Sean Devine told the court that his client did not consent to extradition request and would fight it. The arrest warrant provided by the Spanish authorities was "fundamentally flawed," said Devine.
"The Spanish government have clearly made an error in law," Devine told the court, in a reference to a legal argument over whether the Spanish offence carried the necessary three-year sentence required for automatic extradition.
The convicted ETA terrorists is wanted by the Spanish authorities on charges of praising or supporting terrorism in a letter that was read out in his name at a rally in Spain.
Barrister Stephen Ritchie, acting for the Spanish government, said the arrest warrant stated that on the day of his release on August 2 de Juana gave an identified woman a letter to be read out in his name urging a continuation of the armed struggle.
However, de Juana, who is believed to have lived in West Belfast since his controversial release from prison has denied, through his Belfast lawyers, that he had authorized anyone to speak on his behalf.
The ETA activist had only served 21 years of a sentence of more than 3,000 years for participating in 11 attacks that killed 25 people when he was freed.
The new charges of praising terrorism were brought just a few days after his release, but de Juana failed to show up for the hearing in Madrid.
Spain's top anti-terrorism court issued an international warrant for his arrest on November 11, requesting his extradition from Northern Ireland which is part of the United Kingdom.
ETA has traditionally close links with Ireland and the British province of Northern Ireland via the Irish Republican Army (IRA) which, however, renounced the armed struggle in 2005 and has since disbanded.
At the end of Monday's hearing, the presiding judge ordered de Juana to be held in continued custody while a bail application was being considered.
