{{Short description|Basque nationalist}} {{Infobox person | name = Jurdan Martitegi Lizaso | image = | image_size = 200px | caption = | birth_name = | birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1980|05|10}} | birth_place = Durango, Biscay | death_date = | death_place = | death_cause = | resting_place = | resting_place_coordinates = | other_names = | known_for = Head of ETA military commandos | occupation = | title = | term = 2002-2009 | political_party = | disappeared_status = Jailed }} '''Jurdan Martitegi Lizaso''' (born May 10, 1980, in Durango, Vizcaya, Spain) is a member of the armed Basque nationalist group Euskadi Ta Askatasuna (ETA). He is best known as the head of the military/commando unit of the group since late 2008 until April 18, 2009, when he was arrested by French police. He is considered to be one of the most dangerous members of ETA, considered a terrorist organization by the European Union, with police describing him as "extremely violent".<ref name="commandos"> {{cite web | title = La dirección ha encargado a Martitegi una reorganización rápida, efectiva y ágil de los 'commandos' | work = elconfidencialdigital.com | url = http://www.elconfidencialdigital.com/Articulo.aspx?IdObjeto=19499 | accessdate = 2009-02-13 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090423093552/http://www.elconfidencialdigital.com/Articulo.aspx?IdObjeto=19499 | archive-date = 2009-04-23 | url-status = dead }} </ref><ref name="profile"> {{cite web | title = ETA ha dado la orden de asesinar a un ertzaina en la campaña electoral vasca | work = elconfidencialdigital.com | url = http://www.elconfidencialdigital.com/Articulo.aspx?IdObjeto=19656 | accessdate = 2009-02-17 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090222191325/http://www.elconfidencialdigital.com/Articulo.aspx?IdObjeto=19656 | archive-date = 2009-02-22 | url-status = dead }} </ref>
He gained prominence in the military section of ETA by leading the 'commando Vizcaya' (Biscay Command) after the 2006 ceasefire along with Arkaitz Goikoetxea and rose to the highest level of ETA's military leadership following the December 2008 arrest of Aitzol Iriondo alias ''Gurbita'' who had replaced Miguel de Garikoitz Aspiazu Rubina alias ''Txeroki'', arrested less than a month before.<ref> {{cite web | title = La policía apunta como nuevo jefe militar de ETA a Jurdan Martitegi | work = El Periódico de Aragón | url = http://www.elperiodicodearagon.com/noticias/noticia.asp?pkid=462077 | accessdate = 2009-02-10 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110718084350/http://www.elperiodicodearagon.com/noticias/noticia.asp?pkid=462077 | archive-date = 2011-07-18 | url-status = dead }} </ref>
==ETA activity== ===Kale borroka=== Before joining ETA, Jurdan Martitegi had a wide record of kale borroka acts. On February 12, 1998, he presented himself in front of Baltasar Garzón, after being accused of several street violence acts during 1997.<ref name="kaleborroka"> {{cite web | title = Un veterano de la kale borroka de dos metros | work = elcorreodigital.com | date = 24 November 2007 | url = http://www.elcorreodigital.com/vizcaya/20071124/politica/veterano-kale-borroka-metros-20071124.html | accessdate = 2009-02-13 }} </ref> He was shortly released but later accused of taking part in a molotov attack against an Ertzaintza police station in Amorebieta. In 2000 he was arrested after attacking a concessionaire in Iurreta and a bank and Guardia Civil barracks in Galdakao, in which a policeman was wounded.<ref name="kaleborroka_dos"> {{cite web | title = La Ertzaintza identifica a Jurdan Martitegi y Arkaitz Goikoetxea como presuntos autores del atentado de Getxo | work = europapress.es | url = http://www.europapress.es/00066/20071123145649/ertzaintza-identifica-jurdan-martitegi-arkaitz-goikoetxea-presuntos-autores-atentado-getxo.html | accessdate = 2009-02-13 }} </ref> He was arrested again on March 5, 2001, after placing an explosive at the Durango courts and spent some time at the Alcalá Meco and Daroca prisons.<ref name="kaleborroka"/>
===Comando member=== Martitegi is believed to have joined ETA after he was released from prison. He left his Durango home in 2006 after he knew police were searching him.<ref name="instructor"> {{cite web | title = Interior sitúa a Jurdan Martitegi como uno de los instructores de ETA | work = deia.com | url = http://www.deia.com/es/impresa/2008/11/24/bizkaia/politika/517642.php | accessdate = 2009-02-13 }} </ref> He joined the 'commando Vizcaya' after the 2006 ceasefire and carried several attacks along with Arkaitz Goikoetxea, including the bombing of Civil Guard's cuartel in Durango on August 24, 2007, a bomb attack in front of a courthouse in Sestao on December 16, 2007, a car bomb explosion outside a Guardia Civil barracks in Calahorra, Rioja on March 21, 2008<ref> {{cite web | title = Identificados Jurdan Martitegi y Arkaitz Goikoetxea como dos de los presuntos etarras que atentaron en Calahorra | work = larioja.com | date = 26 March 2008 | url = http://www.larioja.com/20080326/local/arkaitz-200803261256.html | accessdate = 2009-02-13 }} </ref> and a van bomb placed in front of a Guardia Civil barracks at Legutiano, Álava, which killed one policeman, Juan Manuel Piñuel Villalón, and injured four.<ref name="carrasco"> {{cite web |title=Jurdan Martitegi, el posible asesino |work=es.truveo.com/ |url=http://es.truveo.com/Jurdan-Martitegi-el-posible-asesino-0803/id/1689616403 |accessdate=2009-02-13 }}{{dead link|date=April 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} </ref><ref>{{cite web | title = Dos de los imputados trasladaron desde Las Landas la furgoneta bomba de Legutiano | work = diariodenoticias.com | url = http://www.diariodenoticias.com/ediciones/2008/07/28/politica/espana-mundo/d28esp14.1320765.php | archive-url = https://archive.today/20110714200743/http://www.diariodenoticias.com/ediciones/2008/07/28/politica/espana-mundo/d28esp14.1320765.php | url-status = dead | archive-date = 2011-07-14 | accessdate = 2009-02-15 }}</ref> He is also believed to have carried a failed attack outside Getxo courthouse on November 11, 2007.<ref name="kaleborroka_dos"/> According to police he's the main suspect of killing Spanish Socialist Workers' Party councillor Isaías Carrasco on March 7, 2008, as eyewitnesses described the killer as a 'tall man', a description which fits with Martitegi's two meters height.<ref name="carrasco"/>
Jurdan Martitegi carried all of the attacks along with his fellow partner Arkaitz Goikoetxea, who was arrested on July 22, 2008, after Spanish police dismantled the Vizcaya cell. Martitegi was able to escape before police arrested nine other suspects.<ref> {{cite web |title=Spain detains nine, dismantling "most wanted" ETA cell |work=monstersandcritics.com |url=http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/europe/news/article_1418708.php/Spain_detains_nine_dismantling_"most_wanted"_ETA_cell__2nd_Roundup_ |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130129002948/http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/europe/news/article_1418708.php/Spain_detains_nine_dismantling_"most_wanted"_ETA_cell__2nd_Roundup_ |url-status=dead |archive-date=2013-01-29 |accessdate=2009-02-15 }} </ref>
Police reported that Martitegi and Txeroki had trained several ETA members of the Nafarroa cell in Hendaia during 2008.<ref name="instructor"/> Four days after this cell was arrested, on October 30, ETA bombed the University of Navarra, injuring up to twenty-one persons.<ref> {{cite web | title = 'Several injured' in northern Spain carbomb attack | work = earthtimes.org | url = http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/239331,several-injured-in-northern-spain-carbomb-attack.html | accessdate = 2009-02-13 }} </ref>
===Military chief=== In early 2009, Spanish press revealed that ETA's current top leaders Juan Cruz Maiztegui Bengoa, 63, alias ''Pastor'' and José Luis Eciolaza Galán alias ''Dienteputo'' had entrusted Martitegi to quickly reorganize the commandos and make them ready to commit 'deadly attacks'.<ref name="commandos"/> Some days later, Spanish police confirmed that ETA had restructured its commandos and that Martitegi would be leading them along with his lieutenant "Andoni Sarasola" and ETA member "Lurgi Mendinueta".<ref> {{cite web | title = ETA extiende su campaña de cartas de extorsión a hijos y esposas de empresarios | work = 20minutos.es | date = 12 February 2009 | url = http://www.20minutos.es/noticia/449896/0/eta/extorsion/empresarios/ | accessdate = 2009-02-12 }} </ref> Martitegi has already asked his commandos to carry quick attacks, always with car bombs.<ref> {{cite web | title = ETA cambia: da orden de preparar atentados rápidos, con coches bomba y cargas más pequeñas | work = elconfidencialdigital | url = http://www.elconfidencialdigital.com/Articulo.aspx?IdObjeto=19635 | accessdate = 2009-02-17 }} </ref>
Since his work as a military chief ETA has already carried several attacks (see List of ETA attacks in 2009), including the bombing of the Basque television in Bilbao on December 31, 2008, and a van bomb in Madrid on February 8, 2009, which led police to think that ETA has established its first cell in Madrid for about six years.<ref> {{cite web | title = ETA believed to have established cell in Madrid | work = topnews.in | url = http://www.topnews.in/eta-believed-have-established-cell-madrid-2123011 | accessdate = 2009-02-13 }} </ref>
In February 2009, ''El Confidencial'' revealed that police were afraid that Martitegi would try to carry a ''very big attack'' to vindicate himself to ETA leaders. Police also warned that ETA's goal was to kill ertzainas during the Basque elections campaign.<ref name="profile"/>
Although he officially controlled all of ETA's cells, Martitegi had problems moving in public due to his high stature of more than 1.90 meters, which made him easily detectable.<ref name="commandos"/>
==See also== * Francisco Javier López Peña
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== *[https://web.archive.org/web/20110723120135/http://datos.ertzaintza.net/web/PTERPR04.nsf/(GenerarPagImagenAmpliada)?OpenAgent&IDIOMA=4&DOCID=48A6CA93C5CB6AE5C125739C00454A34&ORIGENLLAMADA=Internet Martitegi profile at Ertzaintza website] * [http://www.cadenaser.com/espana/fotos/terroristas-terrorismo-etarra-jurdan-martitegi/csrcsrpor/20080226csrcsrnac_5/Ies Picture #1] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080618220913/http://www.cadenaser.com/espana/fotos/terroristas-terrorismo-etarra-jurdan-martitegi/csrcsrpor/20080226csrcsrnac_5/Ies |date=2008-06-18 }} *[https://web.archive.org/web/20110724010514/http://www.diariodenavarra.es/actualidad/fotosdeldia.asp?id=20080226-terrorismo-2008022604115976-nacional&fot=2008022604115976 Picture #2]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Martitegi, Jurdan}} Category:People from Durango, Biscay Category:ETA (separatist group) activists Category:Living people Category:1980 births Category:Individuals designated as terrorists by the United States government Category:Spanish prisoners and detainees Category:People convicted on terrorism charges