Delay for Basque separatist fighting extradition
A Basque separatist fighting extradition to Spain to face a charge of glorifying terrorism must wait until September to learn his fate.
Jose Ignacio de Juana Chaos is wanted over the contents of a letter read out at a rally in San Sebastian last August.
He had his case put back on Friday while a judge in Belfast seeks prison medical records for the 21 years he spent in jail for his role in a campaign of up to 25 murders.
Belfast Recorder Judge Tom Burgess has already ruled that the alleged new offence makes the 53 year-old eligible for extradition unless his legal team can clear a legal bar to having proceedings halted.
Experts enlisted by de Juana’s legal team to help fight the case include a United Nations Special Rapporteur said to have dealt with the impact of years of isolation the suspect endured in prison.
De Juana, who is currently living in Belfast on bail, faces the possibility of a two year jail sentence if convicted of the public justification of terrorist actions which caused humiliation and intensified the grief of victims and their relatives.
A two-day challenge to the extradition proceedings was listed for later this month, but Judge Burgess confirmed that a new date in September was now planned.
He told both sides that he would contact the Spanish authorities in connection with the prison medical records which form part of the case.
The judge also granted an unopposed application by de Juana’s lawyers to vary bail conditions to stay at a new, undisclosed address.
