81 years for ‘Mobutu’

MADRID — A court sentenced a former head of armed Basque separatist group ETA to 81 years in jail on Thursday for killing three police officers in 1980 in the Basque Country.

The National Court found Felix Alberto Lopez de la Calle Gauna, known as “Mobutu,” was part of the ETA band that carried out the killing Oct. 4, 1980.

According to the court, they shot and killed the three officers without warning as the officers were preparing security for a cycle race in the Basque town of Salvatierra. Fingerprints in the getaway car were matched to “Mobutu.”