MADRID, Nov. 21 (UPI) -- The largest ever trial of alleged members of the Basque guerrilla organization ETA opened Monday.
Some 56 people were charged with directing ETA's logistical operations, raising funds, forging passports and maintaining communications. Around 300 witnesses are expected to testify.
The trial began with a court clerk reading out the indictment. Defense lawyers then asked for the case to be suspended on the grounds that the documentation was not complete.
The trial is the largest ever in terms of the number of defendants to go before the National Court, the Spanish tribunal that deals with affairs of state and terrorism cases, and it followed an eight-year probe by Baltasar Garzon, Spain's leading anti-terror investigator.
Some of the defendants showed an unofficial Basque identity card instead of the official Spanish one as they entered the court. Most wore grey T-Shirts that read in Basque "For civil and political rights" and the number of the case file, 18/98, crossed out, EiTB24.com, the Basque news and information channel reported.
ETA is believed to be responsible for more than 800 killings over the past 40 years in its guerrilla campaign for the Basque region's independence from Spain.
