European Court of Human Rights Tells Spain to Free Long-held ETA Prisoner

Europe's human rights court Monday condemned Spain over the prolonged detention of an ETA militant and ordered her rapid release, opening the way for dozens of other convicts to be freed.

The European Court of Human Rights upheld its previous ruling in favor of releasing Ines del Rio Prada, a 55-year-old jailed member of the armed Basque separatist group.

The decision could lead to the Spanish courts ordering the release of scores of other prisoners in the same situation as Del Rio Prada, who has been in jail since 1987 after being sentenced to 3,838 years for terrorist-related offences including 19 killings.

Spain lamented the ruling by the Strasbourg-based court.

"I regret this decision," Justice Minister Alberto Ruiz-Gallardon told a news conference in Madrid, adding however that it would be up to the Spanish courts to decide how the verdict applied to other cases.

Interior Minister Jorge Fernandez Dias stressed that the government would not change its policy of refusing to negotiate with ETA.

The European court had ordered Del Rio Prada's release in July 2012 but agreed to a request by the Spanish government to re-examine the case.

However, in its ruling on Monday, the human rights court said Spain should "ensure that the applicant was released at the earliest possible date".

It also told Spain to pay her 30,000 euros ($41,000) in damages and 1,500 euros for costs and expenses.

The court ruled against Spain over a legal practice known as the "Parot doctrine" that allowed the time convicts spend in prison to be extended retroactively.

The doctrine, adopted by the Spanish Supreme Court in 2006, said that years of remission earned through prison work should be deducted from the total sentence -- often amounting to hundreds of years -- instead of the 30-year limit on prison terms set by Spanish law.

In Del Rio Prada's case, the new doctrine wiped out her remission and extended her prison time by nearly nine years.

The same doctrine was applied retroactively to 54 ETA prisoners, nine prisoners from other armed groups that have since been broken up, and 14 common criminals, according to Spain's Interior Ministry.

It was first applied in February 2006 to ETA prisoner Henri Parot.

ETA, listed as a terrorist group in the United States and Europe, is blamed for the deaths of 829 people in a four-decade campaign of shootings and bombings for an independent homeland in northern Spain and southern France.

Victims of ETA's violence urged Spain to refuse to bow to the Strasbourg court's ruling.

"First, we are going to ask that we don't comply. And of course there is no reason to open the jail doors because they will have to lodge an appeal one by one," said Angeles Pedraza, head of the Association of Victims of Terrorism (AVT).

"This is not justice. Despite being defeated today, the AVT and the victims will fight to the last for justice in Spain. And justice means the terrorists are in jail and victims can mourn," she told reporters in Madrid, surrounded by victims of ETA violence.

In October 2011, ETA declared a "definitive end to armed activity" but it has not formally disarmed nor disbanded as the Spanish and French governments demand.

The group has been severely weakened in recent years by the arrests of its senior leaders in Spain and France.