A Basque leader who was imprisoned for his links with the armed separatist group ETA can not be a candidate for the upcoming regional elections because his sentence banned him from holding any public office until 2021, they said on Wednesday authorities in the Basque Country.
Arnaldo Otegi, a Basque politician, thanks a tribute during a political meeting in San Sebastian, Spain, on 5 March 2016. Otegi, who was imprisoned for his links with the armed separatist group ETA, can not be a candidate for the upcoming regional elections because his sentence banned him from holding any public office until 2021, said the electoral authority on 24 August 2016.
Photo: AP Photo / Alvaro Barrientos, File / AP in Spanish
the regional electoral board said Wednesday that Arnaldo Otegi, former leader of the banned Batasuna party, can not be a candidate for regional president or lehendakari by EH Bildu independence party in the elections on 25 September. Otegi is expected to appeal that decision.
Politicians are divided over whether the restriction will affect the peace process and fuel the separatist movement in that region in Spain.
Otegi was sentenced to six years in 2009 for trying to form a new party under the orders of ETA.
The Basque separatist group, which killed 829 people during a four-decade campaign for Basque independence, declared a ceasefire in 2011.
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