Court will question Spanish prime minister

MADRID, Spain (AP) Ÿ The judge probing official involvement in anti-terrorist death squads has found that the accusations against Prime Minister Felipe Gonzalez are credible enough to call him in for questioning.

In a 40-page legal summary, published Tuesday by the El Pais newspaper, lower court Judge Baltasar Garzon said he had no solid evidence that Gonzalez or his three deputies broke the law. But he said the accusations were sufficient for the Supreme Court to question them.

The Supreme Court is the only Spanish court empowered to subpoena the four men, who enjoy parliamentary immunity. It has taken over the investigation from Garzon and is expected to rule in September whether there will be further proceedings.

Allegations that Gonzalez and other government officials from his ruling Socialist party organized death squads have triggered the most serious scandal since Gonzalez took office in 1982. Gonzalez has denied the charges.

GAL Ÿ the Anti-terrorist Liberation Groups Ÿ killed at least 26 people in the mid-1980s in a campaign against people allegedly linked to the armed Basque separatist group ETA.

ETA has killed 750 people since 1968 in its bid to gain independence for northern Spain's three Basque provinces.

According to Garzon's report, only one of 14 people indicted in the investigation, former Socialist party member Ricardo Garcia Damborenea, directly accused Gonzalez, but provided no documentary evidence.

The judge's report said there was a much stronger case against former interior minister Jose Barrionuevo, who is accused of being involved in the death squads by five of the people indicted.

The other two deputies involved in the case are former Defense Minister Narcis Serra and former Socialist party national organizer Jose Maria Benegas.

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