Iñaki de Juana Chaos

On 7 August 2006, de Juana began a hunger strike to demand his release on October 4, 2006, the date which he should have been released under his original sentence. He began to be force-fed on 20 September. He ended the hunger strike after 63 days on 9 October.[8]

In November 2006, de Juana was sentenced to twelve years and seven months for allegedly making terrorist threats in two articles of opinion and he resumed his hunger strike.[9][10] In February 2007, de Juana's sentence for promoting terrorism was cut from more than 12 years, down to 3 years. On 24 February, thousands of people protested in Madrid against the ruling. According to two polls, the majority of Spaniards opposed this decision.[11]

On 2 March 2007, the Spanish Government made the decision to essentially demote de Juana to house arrest due to worries over his health. This decision was criticized by the major conservative party, Partido Popular, who denounced the move as an agreement between government and ETA, and an encouragement for future prisoner hunger strikes.[12]

On 1 March 2007, de Juana ended his hunger strike after 114 days,[13] after being moved from Madrid to a hospital in the Basque Region. He was to serve the remainder of his sentence on house arrest. On 10 March 2007, thousands of people protested in Madrid against the release of de Juana.[14] On 6 June 2007, de Juana was sent back to prison one day after Eta said the ceasefire was to end.[15]

On 17 July 2008, de Juana commenced his third hunger strike. This time he was protesting a decision by the Prosecutor's Office of the National Court to place a lean on an apartment which his wife owns. This will not stop him from living there, but it will stop the apartment from being sold. de Juana owes his victims €8 million.

On August 2, 2008 de Juana Chaos was released from prison after serving 21 years. Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero said De Jauana Chaos "generates a perfectly understandable feeling of contempt" among all citizens "and of course the head of the government". He added, "But we must respect the law."[16]

In September 2008, de Juana applied for a passport using an address in Dublin, Ireland. The address belonged to Jim Monaghan who was part of a group known as the Colombia Three, captured in Colombia and accused of training members of Farc before fleeing and being sentenced to 17 years in absentia.[17]

A warrant was issued by Interpol as a Spanish judge wanted de Juana to answer charges that he was "glorifying terrorism." The Irish Government pledged its support to find de Juana.[18] On 14 November, the PSNI said they were looking for de Juana. de Juana's Belfast lawyer said he would appear before a Belfast court on 17 November.[19] When he came to court his lawyer said that he would fight extradition and that the maximum sentence on the charge was less than the minimum of three years necessary for extradition. His lawyer also challenged the basis of the charge which the Spanish state said was contained in a letter allegedly written by de Juana and allegedly quoted by a supporter at a function to welcome de Juana home. The British judge said needed to know specifically what laws had allegedly been broken by de Juana and whether similar charges existed under British law. De Juan was then released on bail,[20] with a new trial date set for December.[21] The Spanish state representative then consulted with the group Victimas del Terrorismo. Outside of the court there were protesters, some pro-Basque independence and others anti-ETA.[22]