A judge in Belfast has thrown out attempts to have a Basque man extradited to face terrorism charges in Spain.
Arturo Villanueva Arteaga was being sought over claims he belonged to a youth group allegedly linked to the ETA organisation.
But Belfast Recorder Judge Tom Burgess ruled a European Arrest Warrant issued against the 33-year-old was invalid.
He based his decision on a lack of specific details about attendance at meetings, interviews or other evidence that Arteaga was a member of the Jarrai group.
Although the warrant claimed the wanted man carried out violent and coercive actions from 1994 to 2000, Judge Burgess held there was no reference to dates, locations or targets of any alleged attacks which would allow anyone to link them to him.
Lawyers for the Spanish authorities have seven days to appeal the ruling, with Arteaga released on continuing bail.
'Flaws'
His legal team opposed the extradition attempts by arguing the warrant was defective and did not contain information required by the Extradition Act 2003.
Another part of the defence was that there were no retrospective powers to charge him with alleged membership on dates before Jarrai was declared an illegal terrorist organisation.
Arteaga, who has been living in Northern Ireland for six years and runs a tourism business, claimed the ruling showed up flaws in how Spain deals with this type of case.
He said outside court: "The way the Spanish judiciary and Spanish authorities deal with these sort of political cases has been proven (to be) not the right way, and they breach any kind of principles.
"Not just myself, but many different lawyers and international bodies, year after year, have been calling attention to the Spanish authorities to improve on matters of human rights and judicial rights for any legal cases relating to the Basque conflict."
He added: "I was accused of being a member of that particular youth organisation. I have always been working politically, peacefully and publicly in defence of Basque youth rights and in defence of Basque national rights. That's always been the case.
"Now it's been proven that all these political cases are just show trials being held in Madrid."
Arteaga's lawyer also criticised the strength of the case against him.
Niall Murphy said Arteaga had been "living under the spectre" of extradition proceedings for months on the back of a warrant which had to be rejected.
The solicitor added that such "vindictive extradition attempts will do nothing to assist the development of a peace process in the Basque Country".
Judge Burgess is also considering a separate request from Spain to extradite convicted Basque terrorist Jose Ignacio de Juana Chaos.
The 54-year-old, who has already served a jail sentence for his role in up to 25 murders, is wanted over claims he glorified terrorism.
© UTV News