Decision over terminal ETA inmate delayed

The early release of Iosu Uribetxeberria Bolinaga has been deferred for at least 20 days after the High Court asked for more details about the ETA prisoner’s state of health. The Interior Ministry last Friday granted Uribetxeberria, who is suffering from terminal cancer, third-degree status, which allows him to apply for release on compassionate grounds.

However, prosecutors have asked that a report submitted by a medical commission from the Donostia hospital in San Sebastián be amplified to include Uribetxeberria’s full medical history and that it be signed by “concrete persons” rather than a panel. The High Court is also awaiting the prison authority’s early release approval, which was expected to be delivered on Monday evening.

The report stated that Uribetxeberria’s illness usually claims its victim within nine months, with only a 10-percent chance of living more than a year. The ETA inmate has been on hunger strike for two weeks but prosecutors argue that his condition, although serious, does not mean his death is imminent.