Former ETA chief jailed for 96 years

MADRID, Spain -- A former leader of the armed Basque separatist group ETA has been sentenced to 96 years in jail for the killing of two Spanish police officers in 1989.

It was the third sentence for Francisco Mugika Garmendia, also known as Pakito, since he was extradited from France last year. Pakito was considered a senior leader of ETA in the 1980s.

In one sentence last October, Mugika was given 109 years in prison for a 1987 attack on Spain's Civil Guard that left one dead. Days earlier, he had been sentenced to 12 years in prison for a 1987 car bomb attack that injured a Spanish sailor.

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In Wednesday's ruling, Mugika was sentenced for his role in the death of two officers in a bomb blast near Madrid's Alcala-Meco prison in 1989.

The officers had gone to check the car of a prison officer who had been shot and injured on the road a night earlier. Mugika was convicted of orchestrating the attack and supplying the explosives.

Mugika was arrested in 1992 in the southern French town of Bidart. He was held in prison in France for belonging to a criminal group until French authorities extradited him to Spain in February last year.

ETA has regularly targeted military personnel in its 32-year campaign for a Basque homeland straddling northern Spain and southwestern France.

The armed group ended a 14-month truce in December, 1999 and has since been blamed for 23 killings.

The initials ETA stand for Basque Homeland and Freedom in the Basque language.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.