CAT/C/29/D/193/2001
page 13
4.4
The complainant was the subject of an additional extradition request on 10 March 1999.
While the examination of that additional request was in progress and criminal proceedings were
being undertaken by the French courts, the authorities of the State party decided not to proceed
directly with the first extradition. According to the indictment and the evidence produced by the
Spanish authorities in support of that additional extradition request:
[A] complaint was brought against P.E., as a member of the terrorist organization ETA,
for having, together with other members of that organization, in Madrid, sought
information on, monitored and verified the route taken by a van belonging to the general
staff of the Spanish air force, with the aim of carrying out an act of violence. On
30 November 1993, an Opel vehicle had been stolen and its number plates had been
changed. The person whose extradition is sought, together with her accomplices,
constructed an explosive device consisting of two “casseroles”, each containing an
explosive charge of approximately 45 kilos. On 24 January 1994, two of her accomplices
drove the car bomb to the intersection of the Paseo of La Ermita and Avenida del
Manzanares in Madrid. On 25 January 1994, at approximately 0800 hours, as the
military van passed by, Angel Azurmendi Penagarikano activated the device without
managing to explode it. He then fled together with Arri Pascual d’Alvaro […]. [Several
moments later, the police attempted to carry out a controlled explosion. They failed, and
the] device exploded, injuring 19 persons and causing serious damage to buildings and
parked vehicles.
4.5
Following the additional request, the complainant was placed in detention pending
extradition on 15 June 1999. After ordering additional information with a view to verifying
whether part of the accusation had not been subject to a statute of limitations, on 21 June 2000
the indictment division ruled in favour of extradition for acts qualified by the requesting State as
attempted terrorist murder, after having found that the statute of limitations for prosecution had
expired under French law.
4.6
The complainant requested her release on 21 October 1997. The request was granted by
the indictment division on 22 March 2000. In the context of the additional extradition request,
the complainant also requested her release on 4 September 2000. The request was granted
on 18 October 2000, but accompanied by a measure that placed the complainant under judicial
supervision.
4.7
In those circumstances, the Prime Minister granted extradition on the basis of the first
extradition request and the additional request, in a decree dated 29 September 2000. The
complainant was handed over to the Spanish authorities on the day on which the Council of State
took its decision to reject her appeal against the decree, on 7 November 2001.
4.8
With regard to the merits of the complaint, the State party notes that the sole complaint
made by the complainant deals only with the additional extradition request. It in no way
questions the first extradition request, which was based on separate facts that in themselves
would have been sufficient to justify a decision to extradite the complainant, after the indictment