Judge expels defendants amid stormy session

The judges have dismissed the objection filed against them all, a report was again ordered to be read out without a request made by either sides to do so and Elkoro was not allowed to explain the reason for his contacts with ETA
Imanol Murua-Uria, Special Correspondent - MADRID

"All the defendants out!" Angela Murillo, the head of the panel of judges, carried out the threat she had made by that time. It came just after Jose Luis Elkoro had finished answering the questions and was returning to his seat when the rest of the defendants broke into applause. The judge ordered everyone to leave the chamber, called everyone back half an hour later to continue the stormy trial. The questioning of Elkoro ended yesterday and Patxi Murga's began. Both of them are in the section connected with Orain, the publishers of Egin.

The row was sparked off by the final question the lawyer Iñigo Iruin put to Elkoro. He asked whether there has been a connection between Egin and ETA. Elkoro denied that there had been one, but admitted that he personally had had contacts with ETA at some point. The head judge silenced him, said the questioning was over and ordered him to return to his seat when he began to talk about the political meetings in Xiberta in 1977, which were attended by Basque politicians as well as representatives of the armed organisation. There were whistles for the judge followed by applause for Elkoro.

All the defendants were ordered to leave and called back half an hour later. They were told that if they behaved like that again, judicial proceedings would be instituted against them for creating a public disturbance. "You have been warned".

Elkoro is the only indictee among those who have testified so far to have admitted having had some contact with ETA. As the main charge he is facing is that of being an ETA member, he pointed out to the judge, when she silenced him the first time, that he needed to explain the reason for that contact. But it was no use. Both sides, including the judges, were deprived of the details of the contacts he had had in the context of the Xiberta meetings.

So day four of the trial in the 18/98 case was also a stormy affair. The whole morning was given over to examining the request filed by the defence counsel objecting to the entire panel of judges. In the end, the judges decided not to allow it, because the defence was "abusing its rights".

Moreover, the very same conduct which had led to the filing of the objection was repeated twice yesterday when, without any request having been made by either side, the clerk of the court was instructed to read out two reports: one when Elkoro was being questioned and the other when Patxi Murga took the stand. The report requested while Murga was being questioned was a very long one and dealt with the Basque nationalist left. After the clerk had spent over an hour reading it out, Judge Murillo decided at 19.45 to adjourn the proceedings before the clerk had finished. This morning's session will have to continue with the reading out of the report.