Widow's icy stare fills courtroom with tension at second ETA murder trial

Following an unusual courtroom scene this week, which led to a mistrial after a judge in an ETA case recused herself after calling the defendants "bastards," the opening day of the new trial of a pair of Basque terrorists was also filled with drama.

Andoni Otegi, who is one of four ETA defendants indicted for the 2001 assassination of Navarre councilman José Javier Múgica, used his opening statement to explain that no one in the dock was laughing at his widow, as the former presiding Judge Ángela Murillo had charged.

On Wednesday, Murillo murmured to one of her colleagues on the bench without knowing that a microphone was open: "[...] and on top of everything these bastards are laughing."

A mistrial was declared and the trial began anew on Friday with Carmen Paloma González presiding the three-judge panel.

"No one was laughing at the widow. In fact we respect her suffering. Everything that has happened is the consequence of a lie and a judge's desire to take the role of protagonist in this case," Otegi said.

Otegi, former ETA military wing leader Francisco Javier "Txapote" García Gaztelu, Juan Carlos Besance and Oscar Zelarain, the components of the Argala cell, are facing murder charges for the killing of Múgica, a Navarrese People's Union (UPN) councilor in Leitza, Navarre.

Adoración Zubeldia took the witness stand for the second time on Friday. But on this occasion she decided not to sit behind a screen as she had on Wednesday and testified in front of the bench with her back toward the defendants.

Between tears, Zubeldia recalled the day of her husband's murder. "The truck was burning and so was my husband," she said. The widow also described the numerous threats Múgica had received, including the targets painted on the walls near their home and a string of robberies.

The Argala cell is accused of planting a car bomb in Múgica's vehicle outside his house. After the prosecution and defense lawyers concluded their examination and cross-examination respectively, Zubeldia gave icy stares to the defendants.

"Can I look at these boys?" the widow asked the court bailiff who escorted her off the stand. She stood for a few brief moments looking menacingly at the defendants. Judge González had to ask her to leave the courtroom on two occasions.

This is the first ETA trial to be held after the Basque terrorist group announced a definitive end to its armed campaign on October 20. The government has said that the ceasefire would not halt the trials of ETA defendants in custody nor the arrests of the terrorist group's members who are still being sought by law enforcement.