Eta suspect appears in court over plot to kill the King of Spain

Eneko Gogeaskoetxea Arronategui appears at an extradition court in London accused of being part of being a terrorist To the members of the Cambridge squash club, membership secretary Cyril Macq was a super fit devotee of the game, who was due on court twice on Thursday to play the game he loved. Instead he appeared at an extradition court in London accused of being a terrorist who was part of a plot in 1997 to assassinate the King of Spain, and whose escape with a co-conspirator from the clutches of the police saw a Spanish officer killed. City of Westminster magistrates court heard that Cyril Macq was a pseudonym used by Eneko Gogeaskoetxea Arronategui, who fled to Britain where he lived for several years with his family after the 1997 plot to kill the monarch was foiled. The court heard the murder attempt on King Juan Carlos was part of the campaign of violence waged by the Basque separatist group, Eta. Early on Thursday, armed police arrested him in Cambridge on a European arrest warrant issued by Spain. Hours later in a court in central London, the 44-year-old was accused of a plot to kill King Juan Carlos as he opened the Guggenheim museum in Bilbao, a conspiracy foiled when a Spanish police officer challenged Arronategui, who was allegedly dressed as a gardener and secreting explosives into flower boxes. James Stansfeld, on behalf of the Spanish authorities, told the court: “The requested person was stopped whilst in the Guggenheim [museum] gardens filling garden window boxes with ammunition for grenade launchers. “They were stopped by the police. To affect his escape the police officer who stopped them was shot and killed.” The court heard as he fled the scene, Arronategui hijacked three different cars from members of the public. Mr Stansfeld said: “Those facts clearly show that this gentleman will do anything to evade capture.” He also said Arronategui, 44, had obtained identification to allow him to live under a false name. He said: “If he were to be released on bail he would be able to obtain a new false identity.” He continued: “His alleged involvement with the Eta terrorist organisation would certainly provide him with the means and indeed the contacts to hide from the authorities in this jurisdiction.” District Judge John Zani said there were “substantial grounds” for believing he would not voluntarily return to custody and no application for bail was made. The court heard the European arrest warrant accuses Arronategui of eight offences. These are membership of terrorist organisation Eta; the attempted assassination of the king of Spain; possession of ammunition; the murder of a police officer; three counts of theft of vehicles; and forgery of public documents, namely the transferring of licence plates. Asked if he would agree to extradition, Arronategui said: “I do not.” The Spanish interior ministry said police were tipped off to the Cambridge address after a Spanish national spotted Arronategui at a sports club in the city, believed to be the squash club he frequented. Steven Casey, chair of the Cambridge squash club, said the man he knew as Cyril Macq was a “regular guy” who was also his squash partner. Cyril had said he came from Biarritz in south-west France and had been a club member for six years but had only “come out of his shell” in the last 18 months. Casey added: “We talked a lot about life, our children and squash. I got the sense he spent all his spare time playing squash. He was a superfit guy. “He was our membership secretary and was willing and able to do anything, good at organisation and gave of his time.” Casey said he had recently asked Cyril if he would ever return home. The answer was no, he felt settled in Cambridge, where he worked as a computer programmer. The next hearing in his case will be on July 25 when Arronategui will appear from a prison cell by videolink. Spain Europe Eta Global terrorism Vikram Dodd guardian.co.uk

Posted by on July 7, 2011. Filed under News, Politics, World News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.