ETA's political wing elects new leaders

The political wing of the Spanish Basque separatist movement, ETA, -- Herri Batasuna -- has elected a new, provisional leadership to replace those jailed last December for collaborating with an illegal organisation.

A spokesman for the party Joseba Permach, said the new twenty-five member committee would include city councillors and members of the regional Basque parliament.

He said that from now on, the Herri Batasuna would have two sets of leaders - one in prison, and another managing its day-to-day activities Last December, the Spanish Supreme Court jailed the entire party leadership for seven years for allowing ETA to use its television election slots to broadcast a video during the 1996 election campaingn.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service