Former ETA leader defiant and smiling as he goes on trial in Spain on attempted murder charge

MADRID – A former leader of the armed Basque separatist group ETA is on trial for allegedly trying to kill a businessman with a parcel bomb in 2002.

Prosecutors are seeking a 15-year term for Mikel de Garikoitz Aspiazu, who was arrested in France in 2008. The trial started Wednesday at the National Court.

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Spanish newspapers say Aspiazu was sent to watch the proceedings from a glass chamber after he twice refused to stand when a judge asked him to.

Prior to that, he smiled, waved to relatives and said in the Basque language that he did not recognize the Spanish judicial system as having a right to try Basque people.

Aspiazu is under investigation in several other ETA-related cases in Spain, including a deadly bombing in 2006 that ended an ETA ceasefire.