Thirteen ETA militants and sympathisers of the armed Basque separatist group were sentenced by a Paris court today to up to nine years in prison on terrorism-related charges.
Agurtzane Delgado (44), accused of 18 killings in Spain; Inaki Santesteban (39), an explosives expert; and Angel Pikabea Ugalde (44), in charge of transporting explosives, were all sentenced to nine years, along with ETA members Jose Luis Turillas Aracenta and Jesus Maria Zabala Mugira.
Two other presumed ETA members, Tomas Elgorriaga and Ibon Elgorietta Sanz, were given five year sentences.
The same court also sentenced six ETA sympathisers accused of providing logistical support - Nokl Aranguren, Pierre Etchemendy, Olatz Idoate, Thirhse Pernaute, Danihle Unhassobiscay and Christina Urxu - to up to a year in prison.
All 13 were arrested in September in the Pyrenees region of southwest France after a high-profile swoop that led to the arrest of presumed former ETA chief Ignacio Gracia Arregui, known as "Inaki de Renteria", who was being tried separately.
A raid on Gracia Arregui's villa near the Spanish border turned up a huge stash of arms, false ID papers and two stolen cars. Hundreds of false identity cards, driving licences and business cards as well as 35 kilos of explosives were found in a Bayonne flat used by Delgado.
Police in France and Spain have stepped up their cooperation in recent months in the fight against ETA, arresting dozens of suspects.