French President Nicolas Sarkozy has directly blamed "terrorist commandos of ETA for the death of a policeman on Tuesday near Dammarie-les-Lys in a st

from the france press....17/3/10


"The president expresses his deep emotion following the death of Jean-Serge Nerine, chief sergeant, assigned as the public security to the district Dammarie-les-Lys, fatally wounded during an exchange of gunfire with a commando of the ETA terrorist group" the statement said.

The alleged member of ETA was arrested on Tuesday near Paris after the death of a policeman during a shootout, and is being prosecuted in Spain for acts of urban violence.

Joseba Fernandez ASPURZ, subject to two proceedings before the National Court for acts of "kale borroka" urban violence perpetrated by radical groups of young Basque separatists in March and September of 2008.

The movement of "kale borroka" is considered by the Spanish police as the nursery of the ETA. The Spanish judiciary has formally requested the release of ASPURZ in Spain.
The circumstances of the tragedy still unclear

In terms of the investigation, the judicial source was unable to specify the exact circumstances of his arrest, especially if it could be the author of the shots that killed the French officer. The sergeant, aged 52, father of four children, was killed late Tuesday afternoon near Dammarie-les-Lys (Seine-et-Marne) in a shootout with basquen gunmen.

According to judicial sources, four cars were on the roadside, and four people filled their tanks with gasoline canisters when police intervened. Then two other cars arrived, carrying three to four people, and then the gunfire erupted, allowing the escape of suspected members of ETA (excluding custody). They fled by car or on foot, the source said.

Police recovered a handgun in a car, which was part of a consignment of 350 stolen firearms by a commando of the ETA October 23, 2006 at Vauvert, near Nimes (Southern France).


After the tragedy, the Interior Minister Brice Hortefeux visited in the evening at the police station in Dammarie-les-Lys. He urged the policemen "to accomplish their mission of service to the security of their citizens but still thinking about their life, their own security and their families."

Unions Police questioned by AFP were in turn expressed their "emotion" highlighting the "violence" of attacks on police officers who "trivialize". "We hesitate to shoot at police officers who are on the frontline in the safety of our citizens," said Yannnick Danio, spokesman for the union SGP-Police Unit (first union peacekeepers).

Jean-Claude Delage, secretary general of NATO (second union) himself has called for "minimum sentences" for perpetrations of police staff because "there are no limits to violence."