French Court Jails Former ETA Leader for 30 Years

Juan Ibon Fernandez Iradi was accused of pumping eight bullets into a policeman in November 2001.

A French court jailed a leader of the armed Basque separatist group ETA for 30 years on Wednesday for the attempted murder of a policeman in 2001 in southwestern France.

The Paris court ruled that Juan Ibon Fernandez Iradi, nicknamed 'Susper', had to serve at least 20 years of the sentence before being eligible for release.

An accomplice, Antonio Agustin Figal Arranz, was jailed for 10 years by the same court.

Iradi, who admitted to being a member of ETA which has waged a violent campaign for an independent Basque state in northern Spain and southwestern France since 1968, was accused of pumping eight bullets into a policeman in November 2001.

He told the court that he had acted out of panic rather than an intention to kill the policeman, who survived the attack.

"I didn't want to kill anyone, even though I realise he could have died," he told the court.

Spain says Iradi is a former ETA military leader, responsible for recruitment. It is seeking his extradition.

Iradi was first arrested in 2002 but escaped from police custody in Bayonne and was recaptured only in December 2003.