MADRID (AP) — Spanish police have arrested 16 people, including 12 lawyers, for alleged ties with the
[pro_ad_display_adzone id=”8″]armed Basque separatist group ETA.
The Interior Ministry on Monday said the 16 are being charged with membership of a terrorist [pro_ad_display_adzone id=”10″]organization. Twelve are also charged with money laundering and tax fraud.
Besides the lawyers, four treasurers for a group that represents ETA prisoners were arrested.[pro_ad_display_adzone id=”10″]
The ministry said the detained acted as links between ETA’s leadership and the group’s jailed members.[pro_ad_display_adzone id=”10″]
The arrests were carried out in Madrid and the northern Basque and Navarra regions.
ETA declared what it called a permanent cease-fire in 2011. It’s blamed for killing some 830 people in a four-decade-long campaign for a Basque homeland in northern Spain and southwestern France.
