Highest Court studies ETA early release appeals

Mired in controversy over its decision to permit the Bildu alliance of Basque political parties to stand in the May 22 elections, the Constitutional Court faces another delicate and contentious resolution over the appeal launched by ETA inmates to revoke the so-called Parot Doctrine, which established a new formula for counting prison benefits against sentences in the cases of especially violent ETA terrorists tried and sentenced under the 1973 Penal Code.

If the Constitutional Court votes to expunge the Parot Doctrine, it would pave the way for some of ETA's most violent criminals to be freed. In a "prospective" vote to admit the appeals of 16 ETA inmates lodged several years ago, the court voted six to five in favor of revoking the ruling.

In 2006, the same court issued a ruling on the case of Henri Parot, who has been in prison since 1990 after being sentenced to thousands of years through 26 separate sentences for 86 murders. The court argued that prison benefits should be applied to individual sentences and not to the full 30-year maximum sentence actually applicable under Spanish law.

If the appeal is upheld, it would also potentially lead to the release of violent non-political prisoners such as Miguel Ricart, one of the Alcàcer child murderers, and dozens of convicted ETA terrorists.