MADRID (AP) The European Court of Human Rights has ruled that Spain must release a prisoner held under a practice that has allowed Spanish authorities to keep convicted Basque separatists and others behind bars even when they have earned sentence reductions.
Ines del Rio Prada was given multiple convictions for ETA terror attacks in the 1980s. She was due for release in 2008 but Spain invoked a practice saying the sentence reduction she qualified for was applicable to the full sentence of more than 3,000 years rather than to her 30-year maximum time in jail.
The decision applies only to Rio Prada but Spanish authorities have warned it could lead to demands for release by more than 100 prisoners including convicted terrorists and killers.
