NAN-F-27
Exradition
Zurich, March 23, 2017 (Reuters/NAN) Switzerland on Thursday agreed to extradite to Spain a woman convicted of supporting the Basque separatist group ETA, rejecting her claim that she was tortured into confessing while in Spanish custody, Swiss justice officials said.
Swiss authorities arrested the woman, who was not identified, in Zurich in April 2016.
She had been living under an assumed name in Switzerland since 2009.
“The woman had fled Spain in 2016 after a court sentenced her to six years and nine months in jail for supporting ETA.
“The sentence was reduced in January to three and half years.
“The ETA activist could not credibly show that she was actually tortured in Spain,” Switzerland’s Federal Office of Justice said in a statement.
The woman has 30 days to appeal against the decision, which also hinges on her pending request for asylum in Switzerland, the justice office said.
ETA, which has killed more than 800 people over several decades and declared a permanent ceasefire six years ago, has been severely weakened in recent years.
Hundreds of its members were arrested and police seized several weapons stashes. (Reuters/NAN)
OYE/AMY
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Edited by Celine-Damilola Oyewole/Abdullahi Yusuf