The head of the Penitentiary Surveillance Court of the National High Court at Plaza 1, José Luis Castro, has decided not to authorize semi-freedom for the former ETA leader Soledad Iparraguirre, alias "Anboto", nor for the former member of the terrorist organization Juan Ramón Carasatorre, which implies that both will have to return to prison.
In two rulings that Europa Press has had access to, the magistrate rules out applying article 100.2 of the Penitentiary Regulations to these inmates and determines that they continue to be classified in the second degree. At the same time, he raises the need to review and modify said regulatory provision.
According to the judge's reasoning, granting this semi-liberty regime creates "false expectations" for "Anboto" and also generates "unnecessary unease" for the victims "and even for the citizenry, who, upon hearing the news in the media, will find these release/imprisonment decisions strange".
Regarding Iparraguirre, the ruling underlines the special seriousness of the acts for which she was convicted: ten murders, possession of explosives, attacks, destruction, arson, possession of weapons, and crimes against the Crown, which are integrated into a total sentence of 30 years in prison.
Judge Rectifies Basque Government
The magistrate specifies that the milestone of three-quarters of the sentence will be reached in March 2027, a relatively close date, although he recalls that full compliance and definitive release will not occur until September 2034.
Castro thus assumes the position of the Prosecutor's Office, which in a report was against the semi-liberty regime granted to "Anboto" by the Basque Government. The Public Prosecutor's Office warned in that document of the existence of a "covert conversion" of his current prison situation to a third degree.