Madrid - Spain's cabinet yesterday reduced the jail terms of a former socialist minister and other officials involved in a "dirty war" against Basque separatists in the 1980s. "We are talking about a partial pardon in line with the Supreme Court's report," a government spokesman said.
The Supreme Court last week recommended reducing by two-thirds sentences it had originally set at between two and 10 years for the former interior minister, Jose Barrionuevo, his deputy, Rafael Vera, and eight others. They were convicted for the bungled kidnapping of a Basque businessman, Mr Segundo Marey, in 1983, organised by the self-styled Anti-Terrorist Liberation Groups known as GAL.