Judge Tom Burgess has requested further information from the Spanish High Court regarding the extradition order for former ETA hitman José Ignacio de Juana Chaos, who was freed following his arrest yesterday after posting a £5,000 bail bond.

In addition, he is not allowed to leave Ireland and has to remain inside his home between 7pm-8am. Furthermore, he has had his passport confiscated and is required to report to his local police station on a daily basis.

Given that, under British law, automatic extraditions are only granted in cases where the maximum sentence for the crime in question, is more than three years, Judge Burgess wants clarification of the Spanish legal term 'extolling terrorism', the maximum penalty for which is a two-year term, and with which De Juana is accused over a letter allegedly written by him that was read out at a tribute to him following his release from jail, and subsequently published in the 'Gara' Basque daily.

During yesterday's hearing, that had to be postponed until the afternoon while an interpreter could be found, it emerged that De Juana has been living in Belfast since September 26th.

Having spent five weeks at one address, he recently moved into a bigger flat that better accommodates his wife.

De Juana is registered with the UK social services and has applied for unemployment benefit.

Missing interpreter forces De Juana hearing to be adjourned
By: thinkSPAIN
Monday, November 17, 2008

Convicted ETA assassin José Ignacio de Juana Chaos arrived just over half an hour late for a hearing at a Belfast court this morning.

However, proceedings had to be suspended after the interpreter requested by De Juana's lawyers, failed to show up.

Since his release from jail at the start of August after serving 21 years for a variety of offences, including 25 murders, De Juana has been living at a number of different addresses in Dublin and Belfast.

He is accused of extolling terrorism over the contents of a letter in his name read out at a tribute held in San Sebastián coinciding with his release.

Last Friday, Judge Eloy Velasco, who ordered De Juana's arrest last Tuesday after he failed to show up for an appointment at the High Court in Madrid, said that he would be willing to travel to Northern Ireland to question the suspect personally should the British authorities refuse to extradite him.

De Juana to appear at Belfast court next Monday
By: thinkSPAIN
Friday, November 14, 2008

Lawyers representing José Ignacio de Juana Chaos confirmed yesterday that their client will present himself at Laganside Court in Belfast next Monday morning at 9.30am.

The notification came after an international arrest warrant was issued last Tuesday by Judge Eloy Velasco after De Juana failed to show up for an appointment at the High Court in Madrid.

Notwithstanding, a spokesman for the Royal Ulster Constabulary confirmed yesterday that they had not yet received the arrest order.

The former ETA assassin is accused of extolling terrorism over a letter read out in his name at a tribute to him in San Sebastián on the day of his release from jail last August 2nd.

Since then, De Juana has been staying in Dublin and Belfast.

Bomb found at De Juana's Dublin address
By: thinkSPAIN
Thursday, November 13, 2008

Irish police are interrogating two suspects arrested yesterday at a Dublin address provided by former ETA hitman, José Ignacio de Juana Chaos, after a fake bomb similar to one left outside Shell offices in County Mayo last September, was found during a search of the premises.

The property is owned by former IRA activist, James Monaghan, one of the notorious 'Colombia Three', and on the run since 2004 when he was sentenced to serve 17 years for training FARC rebel forces.

Monaghan is also a former director of the 'Tar Isteach' organisation set up to help released IRA prisoners integrate themselves back into society.

International arrest warrant for released ETA assassin
By: thinkSPAIN
Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Judge Eloy Velasco has been forced to issue an international arrest warrant for José Ignacio de Juana Chaos, who failed to show up for a hearing at the High Court in Madrid yesterday morning.

He is accused of extolling terrorism relating to a letter in his name read out at a tribute to him in San Sebastián on the day of his release from jail on August 2nd.

Judge Velasco revealed that latest Interpol intelligence indicates that De Juana is currently living in either Eire or Northern Ireland, possibly under a false identity.

It seems that notifications of yesterday's hearing were sent out to De Juana's San Sebastián address, an address in Dublin provided by De Juana himself when he tried, unsuccessfully, to renew his passport, his legal representatives in Belfast (Kevin R. Winters and Co.), and to De Juana's private email address.

Irish police widen search for missing ETA suspect
By: thinkSPAIN
Thursday, October 2, 2008

Spanish High Court judge, Eloy Velasco, has called on Interpol to extend the search for the recently released ETA terrorist, José Ignacio de Juana Chaos, after Irish police failed to locate him at the Dublin address he provided to the Spanish embassy when he renewed his passport at the start of last month.

De Juana is wanted for questioning in relation to a statement in his name read out at a tribute to him in San Sebastián on the day of his release, and may be charged with extolling terrorism.

Four days after De Juana failed to show up for a court hearing arranged for September 19th, and after Basque police ascertained that he was not staying at his home in San Sebastián, Judge Velasco instructed Interpol to look for him at number 15 Abbeyfield Road in Dublin's Killester 5 district, and also gave them the mobile phone number and email address provided by De Juana when he renewed his passport on September 3rd.

However, according to the Irish intelligence service, De Juana has been staying at two other addresses - in Dublin 13 and across the border in Belfast.

Judge orders De Juana interrogation
By: thinkSPAIN
Wednesday, August 20, 2008

High Court judge, Eloy Velasco, requested yesterday that José Ignacio de Juana Chaos be taken in for questioning over the contents of a letter in his name that was read out in his absence at a public meeting of separatist sympathisers in San Sebastián just hours after his release from jail on August 2nd.

Judge Velasco is investigating whether there are grounds for charging the former ETA hitman with extolling terrorism, an offence that carries a maximum custodial term of two years.

In the letter, De Juana refers to ETA leader, Domingo Iturbe Abasolo, alias 'Txomin', as a "great man" and "friend to the Basque people," and echoes his call to arms "Aurrera bolie!", which can be translated as "onwards with the armed struggle."

He also dedicates his "first thoughts" to "my male and female companions still behind bars," and, referring to Esteban Esteban Nieto - a former fellow member of the notorious 'Madrid' terror cell - to those "like my friend 'Kroma', who are missed at home." Nieto died in jail of cancer in 1999.

De Juana holed up in Dublin since release
By: thinkSPAIN
Thursday, August 14, 2008

Irish police have confirmed that José Ignacio de Juana Chaos has been vacationing in the Republic of Ireland since his release from jail at the start of the month. The former ETA assassin caught a Ryanair flight from Biarritz which touched down in Dublin at around 11am on Sunday, 3rd August.

Since then, he has been keeping a low profile, but is expected to attend a series of events organised by Sinn Fein over the next few days.

Two years ago, while De Juana was on hunger strike, the former political wing of the now-defunct IRA terror group actively campaigned for his immediate release.

Back home, the conservative PP opposition party is demanding to know whether De Juana will be assigned regional police bodyguards when he returns to Spain.

Related news:

Terror victims lament De Juana release
By: thinkSPAIN
Saturday, August 2, 2008

http://www.thinkspain.com/news-spain/15301/terror-victims-lament-de-juana-release