One of the former heads of the Basque terrorist group ETA was sentenced to 92 years' imprisonment for attempting to kill the King of Spain Juan Carlos I, who renounced his throne in 2014 . The national panel of judges of Spain reached that verdict on Friday, TASS reports.

Eneko Arronategui is made a murder attempt on the monarch in October 1997, the opening day of the Guggenheim Museum of Modern Art in Bilbao ( Basque) . Earlier, the accomplice of the terrorist, Kepa Arronotegi Azurmendi, was  also convicted  of a similar crime. In  addition , the court ordered him to pay a compensation in the amount of € 500.000 to the widow of the police officer he murdered that day .

The police could prevent the attack thanks to the enhanced equipment which had detected а thoroughly disguised vehicle in the museum surroundings, loaded with weapons of various types , including an automatic rifle . There took place a skirmish at the time of detention, due to which a policeman was killed .

ETA stands for the territorial independence of Basques, including the lands in the northern Spain and southwestern France . The group was founded in 1959 . For more than 50 years after its establishment, the ETA killed over 800 people. Despite the declaration of a cease-fire , law enforcement authorities of Spain and France continue pursuing the members of the group .