Miguel Garikoitz Aspiazu Rubina

ETA activity Although he gained prominence in the military section of ETA, he rose to the highest level of ETA's leadership following the May 2008 arrest of Francisco Javier López Peña, also in France. As the military chief, he was believed to have orchestrated, ordered and planned ETA bomb attacks.

His arrest was the result of police investigative work following the arrest of two other ETA suspects who said he told them that he had killed the two officers in Capbreton on 1 December 2007.

He appeared before a Paris judge where he was formally charged in connection with the killing of the two undercover Spanish police officers.

Following his arrest, he was also indicted in a Spanish court for his alleged role in the Barajas bombing.

Political impact Sections of the media asked whether his arrest could debilitate ETA's violent activity. Alternatively, the arrest could have also led to an increase in ETA activity. Some saw it merely as the biggest blow to ETA in the last half-year since Lopez Peña's arrest.

International reactions The Spanish prime minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero said that his arrest would cause "great damage" to ETA but also warned that ETA was still "capable of carrying out attacks." Spain was put on a full security alert to guard against retaliation for Rubina's arrest.