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Cut in jail term

Bilbao: A convicted murderer belonging to the Basque separatist group ETA has given up his hunger strike after a court cut his 12-year sentence for making terrorist threats to three years. Inaki de Juana Chaos, who has already served a 20-year sentence for leading ETA's "Madrid Commando" unit, which killed 25 persons during the 1980s, ended his three-month hunger strike more than a week ago, El Mundo reported, citing sources close to the prisoner. The decision by the Supreme Court will go some way to easing tensions in Spain. ETA has killed more than 800 persons since it took up arms 40 years ago to carve out an independent state in the Basque regions of northern Spain and southwest France. Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero has insisted that he will not have any dealings with ETA's outlawed political wing, Batasuna, unless it renounces violence and condemns ETA. But the socialist Government has secretly continued to talk to Batasuna in an effort to revive the peace talks —

© Guardian Newspapers Limited 2007

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