Overview
- A Paris court of appeal acquitted Josu Urrutikoetxea Bengoetxea, known as Ternera, finding insufficient material and intentional evidence to convict him of association de malfaiteurs.
- Judges said the forensic traces used in the case were not enough to meet French criminal standards, a key factor in the ruling.
- The court accepted in principle two European arrest warrants issued by Spain but made execution contingent on the close of French proceedings.
- The French public prosecutor can appeal the acquittal, and any appeal would prolong litigation and delay possible transfer to Spain.
- Ternera is an elderly, once‑senior ETA figure who helped negotiate the group’s end and who is still sought by Spain over the 1987 Zaragoza barracks attack that killed eleven people.