Spain court frees 9 ETA prisoners after European rights ruling

 A Spanish court on Friday ordered nine imprisoned members of the Basque militant group ETA freed to comply with a controversial European rights ruling made last month. Spain has already freed two other jailed ETA members in line with the October 21 verdict by the European Court of Human Rights, which found that Spain had acted illegally in retroactively deciding to extend the time convicts spend in prison. The National Court in Madrid, which handles terrorism-related cases, determined that the case of the nine ETA prisoners was "identical" to that of Ines del Rio Prada, on whose case the European court ruled and who was released the day after the rights verdict.