National
The three ETA activists deny in court any link to the Madrid train bombings
By h.b.
Apr 23, 2007 - 6:30 PM

Three ETA activists called to declare in the March 11th Madrid train bombing case today have denied in court that they have any links to the bombings.

Gorka Vidal and Irkus Badillo, two of those to declare had been intercepted by the authorities 11 days before the bombings in a van carrying 512 kilos of chlorate explosives.

Gorka Vidal first refused to answer questions, but after a warning from Judge Javier Gómez Bermúdez, told the court that ‘I don’t have anything to do with March 11th, I don’t have anything to do with the Islamists’. Irkus Badillo made a similar statement to the judge.

In addition one of the long term and most bloody ETA activists, Henri Parot, had also been called by defence lawyers because a note found with his name on had been found in the cell of one of the Islamic suspects, Abdelkrim Bensmail, who has been linked to the Algerian, Alekema Lamari, considered to be one of the brains behind the Madrid attack. Henri Parot told the court that he had no particular relationship with any Islamist, although when he was in prison he talked to all his fellow prisoners.