Men cleared of plotting to murder former Spanish PM

MADRID’S National Court has acquitted four men suspected of belonging to Basque separatist organisation ETA and planning terror attacks in 2001, reports from February 4 confirm. 

The suspected militants were accused of plotting to take down a plane carrying then-Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar, who was campaigning for regional elections in Northern Spain. 

A statement from the Spanish court confirmed that a lack of evidence meant prosecutors could only link one of the men, known as ‘Suny’ to the plot, but he is already languishing in a French jail cell. 

He is said to have recruited the other three men, but judges held that no evidence of their involvement in the alleged plans existed. 

Having being cleared of the charges, the men have successfully avoided a prison term of up to 72 years, though one of them is reported to be serving time in France for the same offence. 

In 2001, ETA called a ceasefire by declaring a “definitive end to armed activity,” after being pinned with some 829 killings in the 33 years preceding the truce.