The European Court of Human Rights has called on Spain to release a member of the Basque separatist... euronews, the most watched news channel in Europe Subscribe for your daily dose of international news, curated and explained:http://eurone.ws/10ZCK4a Euronews is available in 13 other languages: http://eurone.ws/17moBCU http://www.euronews.com/2013/10/21/spain-to-release-basque-separatists-from-prison-after-european-court-of-human- The European Court of Human Rights has called on Spain to release a member of the Basque separatist organisation ETA and to end what has been known as the 'Parot Doctrine' which has been in force since 2006. The decision comes after a campaign led by the Basque militant Ines del Rio Prada. She was jailed in 1989 for terrorist attacks and was due for release in 2008, but Spain invoked the 'Parot Doctrine'. It allowed Spanish courts to extend the maximum period of detention beyond 30 years. The Court's ruling could lead to the release of many prisoners held for multiple crime sentences as well as 70 ETA prisoners. The Strasbourg court already ruled in 2012 that the extension of Del Rio's sentence was irregular, but Madrid had appealed to the Grand Chamber. Del Rio originally received prison sentences totalling more than 3,000 years covering all her convictions - though Spanish law capped the amount of time someone could spend in prison for murder at 30 years. In 2006, Spanish courts ruled time off for good behaviour should be subtracted from the total sentence handed out to a prisoner, not the 30-year limit. That meant Del Rio would have had no chance of getting out before the three-decade limit had passed. The sentencing practice is known as the 'Parot Doctrine' after the first ETA prisoner it was applied to, Henry Parot. Find us on: Youtube http://bit.ly/zr3upY Facebook http://www.facebook.com/euronews.fans Twitter http://twitter.com/euronews

• published: 21 Oct 2013
• views: 29