A French court sentenced 14 members and supporters of the Basque separatist group ETA to prison terms of up to 20 years on Wednesday for setting up a massive arms and explosives cache nicknamed "Chernobyl", according to Reuters. The 14 were charged over the 2002 discovery of the cache in southwest France, which included 3,500 detonators and 67 crates of ammunition and was considered one of the biggest ETA arms dumps ever uncovered. The special anti-terrorism court imposed the heaviest sentence, of 20 years, on Asier Oyarzabal-Charpartegui, 34, considered the logistics mastermind of the banned group. The reading of the verdict was interrupted by shouts from the accused, who called the seven judges "fascists" and "terrorists" and broke into ETA songs. Five sentences of 17 years were imposed on other members, including 30 year-old Didier Aguerre, who is already serving a separate 18-year prison sentence for stealing explosives. Juan Angel Ochoantesana-Badiola, considered the ETA finance chief and thought to be responsible for organising the group's funding between 1990 and 2002 from Mexico, was sentenced to 13 years in prison. Lesser sentences were imposed on Concepcion and Bernardo Erbina and their three children, who were charged with sheltering the cache. ETA has killed 800 people in four decades of armed struggle for independence for a Basque Country which would include the Basque region of northern Spain and part of southwest France. Paris has refused to participate in peace talks but the Spanish government agreed in principle after ETA announced a permanent ceasefire in March.
