Ex-IRA bomber reflects on Spain's new prosecution of Basque seperatist ETA 'Army Council' members - compares with IRA Army Council
A new prosecution of the 'Army Council' of Spanish terror group ETA for a 1997 murder shows how victims of the IRA Army Council have been "totally betrayed" by the Irish and British governments, a former IRA bomber has said.
Londonderry man Shane Paul O'Doherty – who was jailed for an IRA letter bomb campaign in the 1970s – was speaking after four senior members of the Spanish terror group were charged with ordering the murder of a Spanish businessman in 1997.
ETA, which had close links to the IRA, murdered 800 people and wounded thousands over 40 years fighting for Basque independence in Spain.
In 2017 it revealed all its weapons caches, and said it had completely disarmed. However the Spanish government refused to negotiate, and demanded that it also confess who carried out past attacks. Around 160 members are still in jail.
In 2003 Spanish courts banned the political party Batasuna as it was funding ETA. This was upheld by the European Court of Human Rights in 2009, which concluded that the party was incompatible with democracy.
In July, Spanish National Court judge María Tardón, indicted two ETA members for the shooting of businessman Patxi Arratibel in 1997. But she also indicted the four top 'Army Council' leaders of ETA at that time: Jose Javier Arizcuren Ruiz, Miguel Albisu Iriarte, Ignacio Miguel Gracia Arregui, and Soledad Iparraguirre. She said that all of them were part of the executive committee of ETA during the period of the murder.
Mr O’Doherty drew sharp comparisons with the NI peace process.
“That ETA's Army Council equivalent leadership is facing judicial proceedings in 2024 for ordering a 1997 murder highlights how victims of IRA terrorism were totally betrayed by both the Irish and British governments,” he said.
“Not only was the IRA and the Army Council leadership granted a secret amnesty not mentioned anywhere in the Belfast Agreement, but the Army Council was not required to hand over its 'war chest' estimated by the Irish government to be in the region of €400m (£333m).
“Claims that prosecution of terrorists who carried out human rights atrocities would endanger the peace process apparently did not hold in Spain. Some ETA prisoners are still serving their sentences and the ETA leadership is even now facing judicial proceedings.
“If the secret OTR (on the run) letters were really declared to be worthless, why isn't the IRA's Army Council leadership answering for 1,700 totally unnecessary murders?”
Inés Gaviria of Spanish terror victims’ group Covite represents many victims of ETA.
She said: “The news of these ETA prosecutions in Spain could be relevant to Northern Ireland in the sense that something similar to what is happening in Spain could occur there: that sufficiently brave repentant terrorists might provide evidence to the justice system, allowing for the resolution of crimes that were never judged before.
“However, I fear that, as in Spain, the courageous judges who dare to investigate these matters will face enormous political pressure not to do so, in order not to break the peace agreements.
“Only strict compliance with the law guarantees a solid long-term peace and true reconciliation. Terrorists can and should be reintegrated into society, but only after engaging in a critical reflection on all the damage they have caused. Only then can true peace be ensured. Anything else is the peace of the graveyards.”
Kenny Donaldson, director of victims’ group SEFF, said: “These prosecutions are relevant to Northern Ireland in demonstrating that building a peace process is possible without surrendering to terrorism and its sponsored rewrite of history. Spain is clear that the means to preserve democracy is to remain true to the rule of law.
“The architects of our peace process were so focused on trying to quell the violence that they did not place any focus on what happens after the violence stops. There was no strategy for dealing with psychological terrorism and its many tentacles within the political, academic and other spheres.”
But former IRA prisoner Anthony McIntyre responded that the Spanish state “right up to its highest echelons, played a key role in the state’s dirty war [against ETA] – yet we only have a focus on ETA personnel”.
He added: “The problem with asserting that IRA victims have been let down because the state has not prosecuted [IRA] Army Council members is that for this to have merit it would need to be applied across the board.”
By contrast, he said, the only people jailed due to NI legacy processes so far are “non-state actors”. “In my view, the war is over and it therefore seems senseless to continue taking prisoners. And this applies across the board to all combatants, state and non-state alike.”
Sinn Fein declined to comment.
Recently the PSNI confirmed to the BBC's ‘Nolan Show’ that a 2015 security assessment of PIRA by the PSNI and MI5 is still valid in 2024.
The report found that “PIRA members believe that the PAC (Provisional Army Council) oversees both PIRA and Sinn Fein with an overarching strategy”.
It concludes that PIRA retains regional structures and departments “in much reduced form” and continues many of its traditional activities –including “isolated” violence and murders – but that it now has “a wholly political focus”.
In 2022 former PSNI chief constable George Hamilton said he believed that the 2015 murder of Kevin McGuigan was “sanctioned at senior levels” of the IRA. He also asserted that IRA Army Council members were directing Sinn Fein at the time.
In 2020, the News Letter named 26 men that IRA members have reportedly murdered since the Good Friday Agreement, including Kevin McGuigan, Paul Quinn, Robert McCartney, Denis Donaldson and Eamon Collins.