The Usual Tricks

Well, according to this note from the AFP seems like Spain is using the same old tricks to try to get Canada to extradite a Basque national.

Here you have it:

Canada immigration board refuses to dismiss ETA case

Sat Jan 19, 5:16 PM ET

A Canadian immigration panel has refused to dismiss a case against a suspected member of the armed Basque separatist group ETA but has yet to decide whether to extradite him to Spain, local media said Saturday.

The Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada said Ivan Apaolaza Sancho, detained in Montreal since June, must respond to charges that he belongs to ETA and that it will hold a new hearing on February 18, Radio-Canada reported.

Apaolaza is accused of participating in several attacks carried out in Madrid after the collapse of a ceasefire ETA called in 1999.

He had lived in Quebec under a false name for six years until his arrest in June.

Spain has requested his extradition and sent to Canadian authorities part of their case against Apaolaza, including references to a fingerprint found in an arms cache and incriminating statements by the suspect.

But his attorney, William Sloan, told Radio-Canada that he has not received any of the accusations.

"I believe I know why: they are documents that (Spanish authorities) cannot use before a court. You can't use information obtained through torture," he told the broadcaster.

Spain's high court issued a warrant for the capture of Apaolaza, born in the Basque town of Beasain in Guipuzcoa region in 1971, five years ago and he also is on a European Union list of terror suspects.

Yeap, same old tricks, bogus documents and confessions extracted with torture. Hopefully Canadian judges are not as corrupt as their Mexican counterparts who a couple of years ago extradited six Basques after Spain provided no evidence to back up its case.

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