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This News Service is posted by the
International Secretariat of Amnesty International,
1 Easton Street, London WC1X 8DJ
(Tel +44-71-413-5500, Fax +44-71-956-1157)
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News Service 27/96
AI INDEX: EUR 41/06/96
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - 14 FEBRUARY 1996



SPAIN: AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL CONDEMNS MURDER OF  FORMER
PRESIDENT OF THE CONSTITUTIONAL COURT

Amnesty International condemns this morning~s  killing ofJose Tomas y  
Valiente, Professor of Law at the Autonomous
University in Madrid, who was shot dead by an armed gunman,
believed to be a member of the Basque armed group Euskadi Ta
Askatasuna (ETA).

        Jose Tomas y Valiente was the President of the
Constitutional Court, Spain~s highest judicial tribunal,
between 1986 and 1992 and was a permanent member of the
Council of State, the key consultative body advising the
government.

      ~We unreservedly condemn abuses by armed political
groups such as kidnapping, deliberate and unlawful killings
and hostage-taking which go against international
humanitarian standards,~ Amnesty International said.

      The shooting took place in his office at 11am this
morning, shortly before he was to give a lecture. The gunman
shot him three times, reportedly once in the head and twice
in the body.  He died in the university while attempts were
being made to revive him.

      No one has yet claimed responsibility for the murder
but the reported circumstances bear all the hallmarks of an
operation by ETA.  A  spokesperson for the Ministry of the
Interior stated that the assailant had probably been
identified as a wanted member of ETA belonging to the Madrid
commando.  Photographs of six wanted persons of this commando
have been publicly displayed since the end of January.   The
ammunition used was of the type habitually employed by ETA.

      This latest killing follows the murder in San Sebastian
on 6 March by ETA of Fernando Mugica Herzog, a lawyer and
former chairman of the Socialist Party in the Basque province
of Guipuzcoa, a close friend of Prime Minister Felipe
Gonzalez and the brother of the former Minister of Justice,
Enrique Mugica Herzog.

      These two murders come at a time of increased high
profile activity by ETA since the end of 1995 against
distinguished public figures. Amnesty International has
called for the immediate release of  Jose Maria Aldaya, a
Basque businessman, and Jose Antonio Ortega, a prison
officer, who have been held hostage by ETA since May 1995 and
January 1996.
ENDS\

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For further information on  Jose Maria Aldaya and Jose
Antonio Ortega, see AI Index EUR 41/03/96.





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