Politics

The central prosecutor in the French town of Bayonne, Anne Kayanakis, announced on Monday that the autopsy carried out on the body of Jon Anza - a suspected member of the armed Basque group ETA, missing since April 2009 - revealed no signs of having been beaten, wounded or shot, therefore ruling out any suspicions that he died from unnatural causes.

During a press conference given in Bayonne regarding the autopsy carried out on the body of Anza, Kayanakis indicated that the deceased''s health was seriously deteriorated at the time of his death.

The prosecutor ruled out any signs of "external trauma" or internal haemorrhaging, citing cardio-pulmonary failure as the cause of death. Nevertheless, Kanayakis also announced that the case would be handed over to the examining magistrate for investigation.

Kanayakis also confirmed that two members of Spain''s Civil Guard were present at a hotel in Toulouse on 20th May, though no direct relation could be established between this fact and the disappearance of Jon Anza, who was found 20 days earlier.

According to Spanish newspaper El Mundo, several members of the civil guard left a hotel in Toulouse in a hurry the very day that both ETA and Anza''s family reported his disappearance, leaving behind a number of firearms which were later discovered by cleaning staff.

The prosecution also found that the search for Anza had not been carried out according to correct procedure.

For their part, the Basque Pro-Amnesty Movement believes preliminary results of the autopsy are unreliable given that his corpse had been lying in a morgue for 10 months without the knowledge of either his family or family doctor.

Background

Jon Anza Ortunez, 47, was last seen on April 18th 2009. In a statement released to a Spanish Basque newspaper in May, ETA claimed him as a member and accused Spanish police of playing a role in his disappearance - a claim Spain denied.

ETA also said Anza had been transporting a large sum of money between the French cities of Bayonne - which is not far from the border with Spain - and Toulouse for the group when he vanished.

Anza''s body lay in a morgue in Toulouse for 10 months until a connection was made between his disappearance and the corpse, which was finally identified by its fingerprints. It was not immediately clear how that was done.

French officials told Anza''s family that he had fallen ill on a street on April 29th and was taken to a hospital in Toulouse, where he died on May 11th. At the time, no one was reportedly able to identify him. The family was told that the body remained in the morgue since then.

Anza spent 21 years in a Spanish prison for ETA membership then moved across the border to Ahetze in French Basque country.

The autopsy

The postmortem carried out on the body of Jon Anza took place without the presence of a forensic doctor or a trusted solicitor. Though his family requested this, the prosecution denied that either be present at the examination.

According to reports, Anza''s family are requesting that a further autopsy be carried out before the body is removed from the morgue.

Basque Interior takes protesters to National Court

Meanwhile, Basque Interior Councilor Rodolfo Ares announced that his Department would be forwarding a statement to the National Court regarding a protest which took place on Sunday over the death of the ex-ETA member.

In a press conference, Ares announced that during the march, certain shouts and expressions were hurled which were "gravely accusatory and slanderous" for which they "could be considered to constitute a crime".