José Antonio Urrutikoetxea Bengoetxea (born 24 December 1950), also known as Josu Urrutikoetxea and Josu Urrutikoetxea Bengoetxea, is a former member of the

Basque separatist Basque nationalism ( eu, eusko abertzaletasuna ; es, nacionalismo vasco; french: nationalisme basque) is a form of nationalism that asserts that Basques, an ethnic group indigenous to the western Pyrenees, are a nation and promotes the poli ...

organization

ETA Eta (uppercase , lowercase ; grc, ἦτα ''ē̂ta'' or ell, ήτα ''ita'' ) is the seventh letter of the Greek alphabet, representing the close front unrounded vowel . Originally denoting the voiceless glottal fricative in most dialects, ...

. In separate trials over a number of years, he was convicted for his involvement in the 1986

Plaza República Dominicana bombing The Plaza República Dominicana bombing was a car bomb attack carried out by the armed Basque separatist group ETA in Madrid, Spain on 14 July 1986, which killed 12 people and injured another 32. The dead were all members of the Guardia Civil ...

and the 1987 Zaragoza barracks bombing, which together killed 23 people, including five children.

ETA activity

Urrutikoetxea joined ETA in 1968 and was in charge of operations in the

Biscay Biscay (; eu, Bizkaia ; es, Vizcaya ) is a province of Spain and a historical territory of the Basque Country, heir of the ancient Lordship of Biscay, lying on the south shore of the eponymous bay. The capital and largest city is Bilbao. B ...

region until fleeing to France in May 1971 at which time he joined the military front of the organisation. In July 1972, he participated in ETA meetings in Madrid. On 15 July 1972, he attacked the Orbegozo factory in Hernani (

Guipúzcoa Gipuzkoa (, , ; es, Guipúzcoa ; french: Guipuscoa) is a province of Spain and a historical territory of the autonomous community of the Basque Country. Its capital city is Donostia-San Sebastián. Gipuzkoa shares borders with the French depa ...

), stealing approximately four million pesetas. On 28 July 1972, Urrutikoetxea was involved in the robbery of a van carrying foreign currency for the Bank of Biscay in

Pasaia Pasaia ( es, Pasajes) is a town and municipality located in the province of Gipuzkoa in the Basque Autonomous Community of northern Spain. It is a fishing community, commercial port and the birthplace of the famous admiral Blas de Lezo. Pasaia l ...

(Guipúzcoa), seizing more 12,000,000 pesetas. On 6 December 1972, he participated in an attack on the Union House of Hernani. On 21 January 1973, along with other members of ETA, Urrutikoetxea planned attacks that would use their available supply of more than 3,000 kilograms of

dynamite Dynamite is an explosive made of nitroglycerin, sorbents (such as powdered shells or clay), and Stabilizer (chemistry), stabilizers. It was invented by the Swedish people, Swedish chemist and engineer Alfred Nobel in Geesthacht, Northern Germa ...

and various

explosive An explosive (or explosive material) is a reactive substance that contains a great amount of potential energy that can produce an explosion if released suddenly, usually accompanied by the production of light, heat, sound, and pressure. An expl ...

materials. Part of those explosives were used in December 1973 to assassinate the

Prime Minister of Spain The prime minister of Spain, officially president of the Government ( es, link=no, Presidente del Gobierno), is the head of government of Spain. The office was established in its current form by the Constitution of 1978 and it was first regula ...

Luis Carrero Blanco Admiral-General Luis Carrero Blanco (4 March 1904 – 20 December 1973) was a Spanish Navy officer and politician. A long-time confidant and right-hand man of dictator Francisco Franco, Carrero served as the Prime Minister of Spain and i ...

. In January 1989, Urrutikoetxea and

Herri Batasuna Herri Batasuna (; en, Popular Unity; HB) was a far-left Basque nationalist coalition in Spain. It was founded in 1978 and defined itself as abertzale, left-wing, socialist, and supported the independence of the Greater Basque Country. It was r ...

leader Elena Beloki were arrested in

Bayonne Bayonne (; eu, Baiona ; oc, label= Gascon, Baiona ; es, Bayona) is a city in Southwestern France near the Spanish border. It is a commune and one of two subprefectures in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department, in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine re ...

, France. The Herri Batasuna organization was later recognized as the force behind the international apparatus of ETA. Urrutikoetxea was sent to

Fresnes Prison Fresnes Prison ('' French Centre pénitentiaire de Fresnes'') is the second largest prison in France, located in the town of Fresnes, Val-de-Marne, south of Paris. It comprises a large men's prison (''maison d'arrêt'') of about 1200 cells, a smal ...

, near Paris, and later was

extradite Extradition is an action wherein one jurisdiction delivers a person accused or convicted of committing a crime in another jurisdiction, over to the other's law enforcement. It is a cooperative law enforcement procedure between the two jurisdic ...

d to Spain, where he was freed when it was ruled that he had been wrongly convicted in France regarding his membership and financing of ETA and the other crimes of which he had been accused. Urrutikoetxea was summoned to testify on two occasions before the

Supreme Court of Spain The Supreme Court ('', TS'') is the highest court in the Kingdom of Spain. Originally established pursuant to Title V of the Constitution of 1812 to replace —in all matters that affected justice— the System of Councils, and currently regulat ...

, which investigated whether Urrutikoetxea had issued the order for ETA to bomb the quarters of the Civil Guard of

Zaragoza Zaragoza, also known in English as Saragossa,''Encyclopædia Britannica'"Zaragoza (conventional Saragossa)" is the capital city of the Zaragoza Province and of the autonomous community of Aragon, Spain. It lies by the Ebro river and its tributari ...

in 1987, killing eleven people, among them five children. On 26 October 1990, he was tried in France, found guilty and sentenced to ten years in prison in France for conspiracy, use of false documents and illegal possession of weapons. The Office of the Public Prosecutor of the National Hearing Solicitor in July 1993 sentenced Urrutikoetxea to an additional twelve years of prison for being in charge of the international apparatus of ETA from 1984 until his arrest in 1989. After serving six years in France, he was handed over to the Spanish authorities on 4 May 1996. Judge Javier Gomez de Liaño, of Spain's ''

Audiencia Nacional The Audiencia Nacional (; en, National Court) is a centralised court in Spain with jurisdiction over all of the Spanish territory. It is specialised in a certain scope of delinquency, having original jurisdiction over major crimes such as those ...

'', ordered Urrutikoetxea 's detention. That same month, he was accused of belonging to an arms depot. In June 1996, he was declared guilty of being in charge of the 1986

in Madrid, which killed twelve civil guards. Former ETA member Juan Manuel Suárez Gamboa recognized that Urrutikoetxea was one of the primary leaders of ETA. In October 1996, Jose Rego maintained that Urrutikoetxea was the head of ETA in 1987, which led to four more cases against him in the ''Audiencia Nacional.'' From 2002 he was a

fugitive A fugitive (or runaway) is a person who is fleeing from custody, whether it be from jail, a government arrest, government or non-government questioning, vigilante violence, or outraged private individuals. A fugitive from justice, also known ...

. In 2013, along with David Pla Marín and Iratxe Sorzabal, he met Spanish government representatives in Norway. Norway allowed them to remain there, conditional on progress being made towards a final dissolution of ETA. When this did not occur, the three were expelled from the country. He was detained in France on 16 May 2019.

Political activity

Urrutikoetxea has been a member of the

Basque Parliament The Basque Parliament (Basque: ''Eusko Legebiltzarra'', Spanish: ''Parlamento Vasco'') is the legislative body of the Basque Autonomous Community of Spain and the elected assembly to which the Basque Government is responsible. The Parliament mee ...

in Vizcaya on the lists of

Euskal Herritarrok Euskal Herritarrok ( en, Basque Citizens, EH) was a Basque nationalism, Basque independentist and Socialism, socialist political party in the Euskal Herria, Basque Country. EH was banned in 2003 by the Supreme Court of Spain on the grounds that it ...

and has been a member of the Commission of Human Rights.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Urrutikoetxea, Josu 1950 births 20th-century Spanish criminals Basque prisoners and detainees Batasuna politicians ETA (separatist group) activists Francoist Spain Herri Batasuna politicians Individuals designated as terrorists by the United States government Living people Members of the 6th Basque Parliament Members of the 7th Basque Parliament People convicted on terrorism charges People from Arratia-Nerbioi Spanish male criminals