The Spanish National Court has acquitted five executives of a now-defunct Basque-language newspaper, including its former editor-in-chief Martxelo Otamendi, of belonging to the separatist group ETA. The court said the prosecution had not provided enough evidence to support its case, which centred on economic ties between the daily Egunkaria and the proscribed terrorist organisation. The paper was shut down on a judge’s order in 2003 on the grounds that it assisted ETA. Following the closure of Egin in 1998, Egunkaria was the world’s only Basque-language newspaper.