A woman extradited by Belgium to Spain in 2020 after being suspected of killing a Spanish army colonel in a 1981 attack was released from a Madrid prison last week.
Maria Natividad Jauregui Espina was released after the statute of limitations on the charges against her was deemed to have expired.
Although she no longer faces prosecution, Espina cannot leave Spain for now. She is required to report to the Spanish courts every month. Any appeal against last week’s ruling could go to the Supreme Court.
Espina was arrested in Ghent in October 2013 based on a European arrest warrant issued by Spain in 2004. She had been resident in Belgium since 2003, living and working as a cook in Ghent.
The Spanish justice authorities wanted to prosecute her, among other things, for the murder of Lieutenant Colonel Ramón Romeo, killed in Bilbao in 1981 by a group believed to belong to the Basque separatist movement, ETA.
According to Spanish authorities, Espina was a member of ETA, at least from 1978, and belonged to the ‘Biscay Commando,’ allegedly responsible for Romeo’s death.
