[JURIST] Former Mozambican Transportation Minister Antonio Munguambe was sentenced to twenty years in prison on Saturday for his involvement in the embezzlement of millions of dollars from a publicly owned company. The trial was the largest corruption proceeding brought in Mozambique since the country achieved independence from Portugal in 1975. Judge Dimas Marroa of Maputo City Court said that he was making an example of the defendants in sentencing [AP report] Munguambe along with four others for the theft of USD$1.7 million from the Mozambican Airport Company (ADM) during Munguambe's tenure in office between 2005 and 2008. Marroa cited evidence that Munguambe was aware of the theft and knowingly benefited from it, using the money to purchase a luxury car and to send his children to school in South Africa, rejecting claims by his defense attorney [allAfrica report] that he had no criminal intention. Antonio Bulande, Munguambe's assistant in the ministry was sentenced [DPA report] to two years for drawing a salary from a subsidiary of ADM under a fake name and using $15,000 to pay for his wedding. The other defendants were former officers of ADM, including former CEO Diodino Cambaza, who was sentenced to twenty-two years and finance director Antenor Pereira, receiving twenty years. The head of a subsidiary company, Deolinda Matos, was sentenced to two years and fifteen days after agreeing to cooperate with prosecutors. Marroa also ruled that the five had to reimburse ADM for the money they had taken. They have five days to appeal their convictions.

The trial began [AIM report] in November 2009 as part of a larger initiative of the Mozambican government [official website, in Portuguese] to reduce corruption in the government. In 2009, Mozambique's Central Office for the Fight Against Corruption and regional attorney's offices investigated 403 cases of corruption [allAfrica.com report]. Transparency International [advocacy website] ranks Mozambique among the most corrupt in the world [2009 CPI rankings]. Munguambe was removed from office by President Armando Guebuza [BBC profile] in 2008 after violent riots in Maputo sparked by an increase in the fares for bus travel, a primary source of transportation in the capital. Soon after, he and the four others were charged by prosecutors with the theft of public funds, for the abuse of functions, for making false statements, and for paying undue remunerations.

[JURIST] The corruption trial of Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi [BBC profile; JURIST news archive] was adjourned for a month on Saturday, after the court rejected the defendant's request to suspend the trial. A court in Milan ruled [AFP report] that it could not wait for the Court of Cassation [official website, in Italian] to issue its opinion in the related prosecution of David Mills [JURIST news archive], as Berlusconi's defense requested, which could take as long as two or three months. Instead, the court set the next hearing [Reuters report] for March 26. Berlusconi, also facing another trial for tax fraud, castigated members of the judiciary [BBC report] on Friday, comparing them to communists and the Taliban [GlobalSecurity backgrounder], and accused them of trying to bring down his government. He also claimed that prosecutors had usurped sovereignty from the people. The head of the National Association of Magistrates [official website] later characterized Berlusconi's statements as intolerable aggression, prompting President Giorgio Napolitano [official profile, in Italian] to call for calm. Also on Saturday, an estimated 200,000 protesters rallied against Berlusconi [BBC report] in central Rome, accusing him of trying to evade the law and undermine the Italian legal system.

On Thurday, the Court of Cassation threw out the conviction against Mills [AFP report], citing a lapse of the ten-year statute of limitations. Mills was appealing his conviction and four and a half year sentence for accepting a $600,000 bribe from Berlusconi in exchange for providing favorable testimony at two of his previous trials. The charges against Berlusconi for the alleged bribe will expire next year. The Italian Chamber of Deputies [official website, in Italian] approved a bill [JURIST report; materials, in Italian] earlier this month that would allow cabinet ministers, including Berlusconi, to postpone criminal proceedings against them for up to 18 months on the grounds that they would interfere with official duties. The legislation is to be considered by the Senate [official website, in Italian] on March 9. The Senate approved a bill [JURIST report; materials, in Italian] in January that would shorten the trial and appeals process, putting strict time limits on its duration. Because of the bill's retroactive effect, two pending corruption cases against Berlusconi would be automatically dismissed. In October, Italy's Constitutional Court [official website, in Italian] struck down a law granting immunity [JURIST report] to the Prime Minister and four others, allowing charges of corruption to be reinstated. The Italian premier is facing two separate trials on charges of corruption and bribery and could face a third corruption trial [JURIST report] based on new information that recently surfaced, according to reports.

[JURIST] The Interior Ministry of Spain [official website, in Spanish] said Sunday that it has taken into custody the suspected leader of the Basque separatist group ETA [GlobalSecurity backgrounder; JURIST news archive], along with two other people who are believed to be senior members of the group. Ibon Gogeascoechea Arronategui and the two others were arrested [AP report] in the French village of Cahan, after a long surveillance operation by Spain and France. In a nationally televised news conference, Spanish Interior Minister Alferdo Perez Rubalcaba [official profile] said that the men were planning to enter Spain with the "worst intentions." Gogeascoechea has been sought since 1997 for his role in planting explosives around the Guggenheim museum in Bilbao which was believed to be an assassination attempt [BBC report] on King Juan Carlos. The two other men - Beinat Aguinalde Ugartemendia, and Gergorio Jimenez Morales - are wanted for separate assassinations [RFI report] that took place in 2008.

Spain has made progress in its attempts to limit ETA influence in the past few years. In January Spanish Judge Fernando Grande-Marlaska ruled [JURIST report] that ETA had tried three times to assassinate former Spanish prime minister Jose Maria Aznar in 2001 but had failed. Grande-Marlaska detailed the three assassination attempts [El Pais report, in Spanish] as part of a description of the alleged crimes of ETA leader Pedro Maria Olano Zabala, who was arrested in the Basque region earlier that month. In September, accused ETA leader Mikel Garikoitz Aspiazu Rubina refused to make any statement [JURIST report] during hearings before the Spanish National Court. In June, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) [official website] upheld [JURIST report] Spain's ban of Basque political groups Batasuna [BBC backgrounder; JURIST news archive] and Herri Batasuna for their alleged ties to ETA. In April, alleged ETA leader Jurdan Martitegi Lizaso [El Pais backgrounder, in Spanish] was arrested in France, and a Spanish judge charged [JURIST reports] him with murder for a May 2008 car bombing that killed a Spanish policeman.