Former members of the ETA terrorist group Aitor Aguirrebarrena, alias “Peio”, and Asier Arzalluz, “Santi”, admitted on Tuesday before the National Court their participation in the assassination of journalist José Luis López de Lacalle, perpetrated on 7 May 2000 in Andoain (Guipúzcoa).
“Yes, I recognize the facts,” both responded to the court’s questions, after which the prosecution, the private prosecution and the defense refused to carry out any questioning.
His statement was followed by the testimonies of an ertzaina, who prepared reports on witnesses to the assassination, and of the ETA member convicted as the material author of the assassination, José Ignacio Guridi Lasa, who admitted to being the author of a document in which he spoke specifically about this attack, about the “kantada” that he sent to the organization.
In its report, the public prosecutor requested that they be sentenced respectively to 26 years in prison for the crime of terrorism of intentional cause of death as necessary collaborators, with the aggravating circumstance of treason, and that they must compensate their relatives of the journalist with 300,506 euros.
It should be recalled that, according to the indictment, José Ignacio Guridi Lasa, as the author of the material, and Francisco Javier García Gaztelu, “Txapote”, as the person who organized and ordered the assassination of the journalist, were already found guilty of this crime. ‘El Mundo’, died after being shot several times in the street as he returned home after buying the press at a nearby kiosk.
“Commando Toto”
The accusation against Arzalluz and Aguirrebarrena was expanded following a series of documentary discoveries and subsequent investigations that led the police and the Civil Guard to conclude that they were the other members of the “Totto command”, that who attacked López de Lacalle, who lacked identity.
Uniformed agents analyzed documentation found in 2002 in a house located in Castres (France) where there was a warehouse of ETA logistical equipment. More precisely, as the archives specify, manuscripts in Basque, called “kantadas”, were found, which “reveal the possible existence of rational indications of criminality” against the two.
According to the judicial report, “Txapote”, as “the main person responsible for the military apparatus of the terrorist organization”, captured Guridi Lasa in 1999, giving him the order to form a legal armed commando.
In turn, the latter contacted “Santi” and “Peio” and formed the “Comando Totto”. “They received different courses in France on the handling of weapons and explosives” and their first mission was to kill López de Lacalle on the direct orders of García Gaztelu.
Records indicate that Guridi Lasa, “Santi” and “Peio” monitored him for a week to establish a pattern of entries and exits that had not been followed on May 7, 2000. As they waited when he left the house, they saw that he was coming back. Then the first approached to verify that it was López de Lacalle and fired four shots at him while the other two stood guard. The three men then fled together in a car.
Experts and reports
During the trial, several experts from the Civil Guard also testified that they had ratified their reports on the chain of custody of documents issued by France and which were linked to this attack.
The agents who carried out a graphological expertise on the manuscript of Guridi Lasa in Basque also declared themselves experts and confirmed that after the appropriate comparisons they were able to know that the author of it was Guridi Lasa.
During the period in question, the prosecutor in charge of the case clarified that in this command, “Peio” generally ensured the security of Guridi Lasa – the usual author of the attacks -, and “Santi” was the one responsible for escape. by providing vehicles that generally belonged to acquaintances or their partners.
Subsequently, the public prosecutor explained that ETA itself had claimed responsibility for the attack of the same year and that up to three protected witnesses – already deceased – described how two people, Guridi Lasa and “Peio”, had run into the street after committing the attack. .
In addition, he pointed out that in Guridi Lasa’s “kantada” he spoke of this attack and highlighted the participation of the two accused: “Asier –Arzalluz– and I worked well.”
30 years as authors
For their part, the private prosecutor’s office – close to the murdered journalist – asked that they be sentenced not as necessary collaborators but as perpetrators to 30 years in prison.
He understands that they acted “at the same level of participation as Guridi Lasa” and that the attack was carried out jointly, in concert and with unity of purpose. “There was obvious solidarity, they are equally responsible and to the same degree. All of them actually contributed to the intended result, namely the death of López Lacalle,” he stressed.
The defense of ETA members refused to inform at the express request of their clients, and after both rejected the last word, the court left the trial open for sentencing.
