Mikel Carrera and Miren Itxaso Zaldúa, during the trial for the murder of Giménez Abad, this July.FERNANDO VILLAR (EFE)
On July 4, a sentence from Borja Giménez Larraz rang out in a courtroom on the second basement floor of the National Court. “This man was the one who shot my father on May 6, 2001,” he insisted from a room set up for protected witnesses, referring to ETA member Mikel Kabikoitz Carrera Sarobe, alias Ata, who had just told him Meters away he sits in the dock for murdering his father Manuel Giménez Abad, the former president of the PP of Aragon, from behind. This week, two months after that hearing and more than 22 years after the crime, the court ruled in favor of the victim’s son and sentenced the terrorist to 30 years in prison. Giménez Larraz, who was 17 at the time of the attack, was an eyewitness to the crime: when his father was shot, he went with him to the La Romareda stadium (Zaragoza) to watch a football match.
At the same time, the court acquitted ETA member Miren Itxaso Zaldúa, who was accused of covering up for her partner in the murder, due to lack of evidence. After the trial, the court has already released Zaldúa, who is nicknamed Sahatsa. Ata, who became the leader of ETA, is currently imprisoned since France sentenced him to life imprisonment for the murder of two unarmed civil guards in Capbreton in 2007 (Fernando Trapero and Raúl Centeno); and French police officer Jean-Serge Nérin in 2010.
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With this judgment, announced this Friday and signed by two of the three judges of the court, the National Court considers solved one of the still unsolved crimes of ETA. The history of the verdict is overwhelming: “On May 6, 2001, Ata, in his capacity as a member of the terrorist group, was in Zaragoza with the aim of killing Giménez Abad,” begins the part of the text dedicated to the verdict “proven facts”. At around 6.30 p.m., after the politician left his house on the way to football with his teenage son, “the terrorist rushed towards them from behind and fired two shots at close range.” [a su objetivo]“. When the victim was already defenseless on the ground, he fired a third shot. In the head. “Witnesses [Giménez Larraz] the whole scene,” emphasizes the verdict.
At the time of the crime, the popular man was not only president of the PP of Aragon, but also a senator and regional deputy. He was 53 years old. He left behind a wife and two children, Borja and Manuel. The latter said on Radio Zaragoza on Friday after learning of Ata’s 30-year prison sentence: “It does not ease the pain of losing my father, but it comforts. [Ha sido] a long road, many years and with many uncertainties. It is a sentence that strengthens even more the trust that we as citizens must have in our democracy and for which my father and other victims of terrorism fought.” The family’s lawyer, Carmen Ladrón de Guevara, was also satisfied, “to have another case removed from the list of unsolved cases”: “Although 20 years later, justice prevails.”
The majority of the court – judges Francisco Viera and María Riera – concluded that there was “absolutely convincing” evidence to convict Carrera as the author of the material. Among other things, the judges attach great importance to the testimony of the son, who saw the murderer’s face; to ballistics reports; and the story of three protected witnesses who were at the crime scene and located and identified Ata there. All of their statements “are completely consistent,” says the resolution from last Monday: “And their value lies in the fact that they all agree in identification, but are based on very personal stories that deny any danger or contagion, among other reasons .” said witnesses do not know each other.”
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However, Judge José Ricardo de Prada cast a dissenting vote because insufficient evidence was presented against Carrera. The judge reiterates that although there is evidence against him, it is not “sufficiently substantiated and consistent” to consider him “beyond all reasonable doubt” as the actual perpetrator of the attack. The identification of Ata as the shooter did not come until more than a decade after the murder. In 2001, when the crime was committed, security forces had no evidence that the ETA member was part of the gang and therefore never showed his photo to witnesses. This situation changed years later. In 2014, the Civil Guard called Borja Giménez to show him a series of images of suspects, including that of Ata, taken in 2010. The victim’s son says he didn’t know who he was at the time, but identified him “without a doubt”: “That’s where I recognize the person who shot my father,” he said in the trial.
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