ETA apologyBasque militant group ETA apologizes to terrorism victims

The Basque militant group ETA, which had conducted a four-decade campaign of violence and terrorism for the creation of an independent Basque state (the Basque region straddles the Spanish-French border), apologized to the victims of its violence. Over 800 people were killed by ETA during the conflict which officially ended in 2011.

The group this week announced it will be officially dissolved by the beginning of May.

“As a result of errors or wrong decisions, ETA has caused victims who did not have a direct participation in the conflict,” the ETA said in a statement published by Basque newspaper Gara on Friday.

“ETA recognizes the direct responsibility it has acquired” in the “extensive suffering” the region had to undergo, the statement said, adding that the group was aware that during the four-decade campaign of violence and armed struggle, it had created a lot of pain, “including many damages for which there is no solution.”

The BBC reports that the victims of ETA violence were not quick to accept he apology. The Victims of Terrorism Association (AVT), a group representing family members of ETA victims, said ETA’s statement is merely an attempt to “dilute its true responsibility” and “whitewash the criminal past.”

“I find it shameful and immoral that they should make a distinction between people who deserved a bullet in the back of the head or a bomb in their car and accidental victims who did not deserve it,” the AVT’s Maria der Mar Blanco said.

Another victims’ group, the Collective of Victims of Terrorism (COVITE), also denounced ETA for trying to “blur its responsibility over crimes committed.”