PARIS, Dec 13 (Reuters) - French anti-terrorist police were on the trail of Basque separatist group ETA on Wednesday after extortion threats were sent to French soccer international Bixente Lizarazu, a native of the Basque region.
Lizarazu stopped taking phone calls and remained out of sight as police in Germany stepped up security on a tip-off from his club, Bayern Munich.
French officials said anti-terrorist experts were investigating a threatening letter sent to Lizarazu via his family on Monday, and were taking seriously the fact that the extortion script bore the ETA insignia.
The threat sparked condemnation from French Prime Minister Lionel Jospin and mainstream Basque politicians in Spain, where 21 people have been died since the start of the year in killings linked to the ETA campaign for a separate Basque state.
The letter, posted to relatives of Lizarazu in his home town on the northern side of the Frenco-Spanish border, acccused Lizarazu of working for an 'oppressor state.'
'You have been well paid to wear the shirt of an oppressor with money stolen from the Basque people and Basque region,' said the letter, the details of which were confirmed by police.
'Given these enemy payments, ETA is writing to you because it has big economic needs to continue its fight,' it said. 'A non-response on your behalf could lead to a response against you and your belongings.'
French officials said Lizarazu's parents had been interviewed and that preliminary findings suggested the letter had been posted in Paris and was indeed from the ETA group.
Lizarazu left it to his German club to do the talking. 'Bixente Lizarazu has informed the club that he has received a threatening letter from ETA. The German police has been
informed of the contents of that letter. Security has taken the appropriate measures,' the club said.
'Please accept that Bixente Lizarazu, for understandable reasons, does not wish to make further comment on the matter.'
Politicians were quick to condmen the threats. French premier Jospin said: 'I found the motivations and basis for this situation absurd and I am sure that he will take it very
calmly.'
Josu Jon Imaz, spokesman for the Basque regional government, registered 'his complete and utter rejection' of the threat. 'The whole of Basque society is a target of ETA, that aims to threaten all those who do not share its ideas.'
Joseaba Egibar, a spokesman for the mainstream PNV Basque nationalist party, said: 'This is part of the strategy of madness from an organization that has lost all perspective.'
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