An activist holds a placard which reads "This murderer
will be free", alongside a picture of Ines Del Rio
Spanish judges have ordered the release of a
convicted Basque militant, after the European
Court of Human Rights ruled against her
continued detention.
Ines del Rio, of the separatist group Eta, has been
serving a 30-year sentence for bomb attacks in the
1980s.
The High Court backed the ruling of a Strasbourg court
on Monday against Spanish laws that denied her right
to earn remission through prison work.
Spain says dozens of Eta prisoners could now be eligible
for release.
Monday's Strasbourg ruling "gives us no choice",
concluded a prosecutors' report at the High Court
requesting Del Rio's immediate release, reported El Pais
newspaper.
The penal chamber subsequently ordered her
immediate release. Del Rio is expected to be freed from
a prison in A Coruna, north-western Spain, later on
Tuesday.
Groups representing victims of Eta's bloody four-
decade campaign for independence for regions of
northern Spain and south-west France denounced the
Strasbourg ruling in protests on Monday, while
supporters of the prisoners held marches in favour.
Eta declared an end to its armed campaign in 2011.
Parot doctrine
Del Rio was arrested in 1987 for her part in 23
murders and car bombings carried out by Eta.
The Strasbourg ruling triggered protests both in
support - like this march in San Sebastian on Monday -
and against
She was later sentenced to more than 3,800 years in
jail, but the criminal code in force at the time reduced
this to a maximum stay of 30 years.
Del Rio earned sentence reductions through prison
work, making her eligible for release in July 2008 - but
two years earlier the High Court applied what is known
as the "Parot doctrine" to extend her detention.
Under this doctrine, sentence reductions are applied to
the sentences for individual crimes - collectively
amounting to 3,828 years - rather than the overall 30-
year maximum stay.
It meant Del Rio's release would be postponed until
2017.
But on Monday the European Court of Human Rights,
upholding a July 2012 ruling in favour of Del Rio,
condemned Spain for this practice and ordered Spain
to ensure her immediate release and to pay her 30,000
euros (£25,400; $41,000) in compensation.
Although the Strasbourg court's ruling only applies to
Del Rio, the Spanish government says dozens of other
convicted Eta members could be eligible for release.
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