Jurdan Martitegi Lizaso (born May 10, 1980, in

Durango Durango, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Durango, is one of the 31 states which make up the Political divisions of Mexico, 32 Federal Entities of Mexico, situated in the northwest portion of the country. With a population of 1,832,650 ...

, Vizcaya, Spain) is a member of the armed

Basque nationalist Basque nationalism ( ; ; ) is a form of nationalism that asserts that Basques, an ethnic group indigenous to the western Pyrenees, are a nation and promotes the political unity of the Basques, today scattered between Spain and France. Since ...

group Euskadi Ta Askatasuna (

ETA Eta ( ; uppercase , lowercase ; ''ē̂ta'' or ''ita'' ) is the seventh letter of the Greek alphabet, representing the close front unrounded vowel, . Originally denoting the voiceless glottal fricative, , in most dialects of Ancient Greek, it ...

). He is best known as the head of the military/commando unit of the group since late 2008 until April 18, 2009, when he was arrested by French police. He is considered to be one of the most dangerous members of ETA, considered a terrorist organization by the European Union, with police describing him as "extremely violent". He gained prominence in the military section of ETA by leading the 'commando Vizcaya' (Biscay Command) after the 2006 ceasefire along with

Arkaitz Goikoetxea Arkaitz Goikoetxea Basabe (born May 4, 1980) is a member of the Basque separatist organisation ETA. He began his violent activity at the age of 15 as a member of the street violence groups known as kale borroka. He was arrested several times betwe ...

and rose to the highest level of ETA's military leadership following the December 2008 arrest of Aitzol Iriondo alias ''Gurbita'' who had replaced Miguel de Garikoitz Aspiazu Rubina alias ''Txeroki'', arrested less than a month before.

ETA activity

Kale borroka

Before joining ETA, Jurdan Martitegi had a wide record of

kale borroka (, "Street Fighting") refers to Urban guerrilla warfare, urban guerrilla actions carried out by Basque nationalism, Basque nationalist youth who are integrated into the ''abertzale left''. Along with ETA (separatist group), ETA, the kale borroka ...

acts. On February 12, 1998, he presented himself in front of

Baltasar Garzón Baltasar Garzón Real (; born 26 October 1955) is a Spanish former judge in Spain's central criminal court, the '' Audiencia Nacional'' responsible for investigation the most serious criminal cases, including terrorism, organised crime, crimes ...

, after being accused of several street violence acts during 1997. He was shortly released but later accused of taking part in a molotov attack against an

Ertzaintza The (, or ''People's Guard'') is the autonomous police force for the Basque Country, largely replacing the Spanish Policía Nacional (National Police) and Guardia Civil (Civil Guard). An Ertzaintza member is called an ''ertzaina'' (). ...

police station in

Amorebieta Amorebieta-Etxano, also known as Zornotza ( Spanish, ''Amorebieta-Echano''), is a town and municipality located in Biscay in the Basque Country, an Autonomous Community in northern Spain. At the time of the 2019 census, the population of the mun ...

. In 2000 he was arrested after attacking a concessionaire in

Iurreta Iurreta is a town and municipality located in the province of Biscay, in the autonomous community of Basque Autonomous Community, northern Spain. Incorporated into the municipality of Durango in 1926, Iurreta regained its independent status in 19 ...

and a bank and

Guardia Civil The Civil Guard (; ) is one of the two national law enforcement agencies of Spain. As a national gendarmerie, it is military in nature and is responsible for civil policing under the authority of both the Ministry of the Interior and the Minis ...

barracks in

Galdakao Galdakao is a town and municipality located in the province of Biscay, in the Basque Country. It is located in the Greater Bilbao, in the valley of the Ibaizabal river, near the Ganguren mountain range. It is surrounded by some summits such a ...

, in which a policeman was wounded. He was arrested again on March 5, 2001, after placing an explosive at the

courts and spent some time at the

Alcalá Meco Alcalá, Alcalà or Alcala may refer to: People *Alcalá (surname), includes a list of people with that name Places Bolivia *Alcalá (Tomina), a town in Bolivia Colombia *Alcalá, Valle del Cauca, Colombia Philippines *Alcala, Cagayan, a munic ...

and

Daroca Daroca is a city and municipality in the province of Zaragoza, Aragon, Spain, situated to the south of the city of Zaragoza. It is the center of a judicial district. It is located in the basin of Calatayud, in the valley of the Jiloca river. N ...

prisons.

Comando member

Martitegi is believed to have joined ETA after he was released from prison. He left his Durango home in 2006 after he knew police were searching him. He joined the 'commando Vizcaya' after the 2006 ceasefire and carried several attacks along with Arkaitz Goikoetxea, including the bombing of Civil Guard's cuartel in Durango on August 24, 2007, a bomb attack in front of a courthouse in

Sestao Sestao is a town and municipality of 27,296 inhabitants located in the province of Biscay, in the autonomous community of Basque Country, northern Spain. It is in the left bank of the Estuary of Bilbao and part of Bilbao's metropolitan area. Se ...

on December 16, 2007, a car bomb explosion outside a Guardia Civil barracks in

Calahorra Calahorra (; ; ) is a municipality in the Spanish autonomous community and province of La Rioja. During Ancient Roman times, Calahorra was a municipium known as ''Calagurris Nassica Iulia''. Location The city is located on a hill at an altitude ...

, Rioja on March 21, 2008 and a van bomb placed in front of a Guardia Civil barracks at

Legutiano Legutio (also known as ''Legutiano''; ''Villarreal de Álava'' in Spanish) is a town and municipality located in the province of Álava, in the Basque Country, northern Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe ...

Álava Álava () or Araba (), officially Araba/Álava, is a Provinces of Spain, province of Spain and a historical territory of the Basque Country (autonomous community), Basque Country, heir of the ancient Basque señoríos#Lords of Álava, Lordship ...

, which killed one policeman, Juan Manuel Piñuel Villalón, and injured four. He is also believed to have carried a failed attack outside

Getxo Getxo () (Spanish: ''Guecho'') is a town located in the province of Biscay, in the autonomous community of the Basque Country (autonomous community), Basque Country, in Spain. It is part of Greater Bilbao, and has 75,430 inhabitants (2023). Getxo ...

courthouse on November 11, 2007. According to police he's the main suspect of killing

Spanish Socialist Workers' Party The Spanish Socialist Workers' Party ( , PSOE ) is a Social democracy, social democratic Updated as required.The PSOE is described as a social-democratic party by numerous sources: * * * * List of political parties in Spain, political party ...

councillor

Isaías Carrasco Isaías Carrasco (11 June 1964 – 7 March 2008) was a Basque politician, affiliated with the PSE. He was shot dead when he left his house in Tolosa de Mondragón on March 7, 2008, two days ahead of general elections in Spain by Beñat Aginagalde ...

on March 7, 2008, as eyewitnesses described the killer as a 'tall man', a description which fits with Martitegi's two meters height. Jurdan Martitegi carried all of the attacks along with his fellow partner Arkaitz Goikoetxea, who was arrested on July 22, 2008, after Spanish police dismantled the Vizcaya cell. Martitegi was able to escape before police arrested nine other suspects. Police reported that Martitegi and Txeroki had trained several ETA members of the Nafarroa cell in

Hendaia Hendaye (; Basque: ''Hendaia'',HENDAIA

Four days after this cell was arrested, on October 30, ETA bombed the

University of Navarra The University of Navarra is a private Catholic research university located on the southeast border of Pamplona, Navarre, Spain. It was founded in 1952 by Saint Josemaría Escrivá de Balaguer, the founder of '' Opus Dei'', as a corporat ...

, injuring up to twenty-one persons.

Military chief

In early 2009, Spanish press revealed that ETA's current top leaders Juan Cruz Maiztegui Bengoa, 63, alias ''Pastor'' and José Luis Eciolaza Galán alias ''Dienteputo'' had entrusted Martitegi to quickly reorganize the commandos and make them ready to commit 'deadly attacks'. Some days later, Spanish police confirmed that ETA had restructured its commandos and that Martitegi would be leading them along with his lieutenant "Andoni Sarasola" and ETA member "Lurgi Mendinueta". Martitegi has already asked his commandos to carry quick attacks, always with car bombs. Since his work as a military chief ETA has already carried several attacks (see List of ETA attacks in 2009), including the bombing of the Basque television in

Bilbao Bilbao is a city in northern Spain, the largest city in the Provinces of Spain, province of Biscay and in the Basque Country (greater region), Basque Country as a whole. It is also the largest city proper in northern Spain. Bilbao is the List o ...

on December 31, 2008, and a van bomb in Madrid on February 8, 2009, which led police to think that ETA has established its first cell in Madrid for about six years. In February 2009, ''El Confidencial'' revealed that police were afraid that Martitegi would try to carry a ''very big attack'' to vindicate himself to ETA leaders. Police also warned that ETA's goal was to kill

ertzaina The (, or ''People's Guard'') is the autonomous police force for the Basque Country, largely replacing the Spanish Policía Nacional (National Police) and Guardia Civil (Civil Guard). An Ertzaintza member is called an ''ertzaina'' (). Hi ...

s during the Basque elections campaign. Although he officially controlled all of ETA's cells, Martitegi had problems moving in public due to his high stature of more than 1.90 meters, which made him easily detectable.

References

External links