| Birth Name: | Josu Muguruza Guarrotxena |
| Birth Date: | 1958 |
| Birth Place: | Bilbao, Spain |
| Death Date: | 20 November |
| Death Place: | Madrid, Spain |
| Burial Place: | Bilbao |
| Death Cause: | Assassination |
| Occupation: | Journalist |
| Party: | Herri Batasuna |
Josu Muguruza (1958–1989) was a Basque journalist and politician who was assassinated in Madrid on 20 November 1989. Muguruza was among the leaders of Herri Batasuna, a Basque nationalist political party. He was about to serve at the Spanish Parliament for the party when he was killed.
Muguruza was born in Bilbao in 1958. He received a bachelor's degree in information sciences.[1] He was a journalist by profession[2] and worked as an editor-in-chief of Egin newspaper.[1]
Muguruza was a member of the Herri Batasuna and was part of the moderate group within the party who supported the peace talks between the Government of Spain and ETA.[3] [4] He was elected as a deputy from the Herri Batasuna in the 1989 general elections.
Muguruza had a daughter, Ane, born two weeks after the murder of her father.[5]
Muguruza was assassinated in Madrid on 20 November 1989 before he received his certificate of election.[6] He was dining at a restaurant of Hotel Alcalá.[7] The perpetrators were the members of an anti-ETA group known as GAL.[6] Ricardo Sáenz Ynestrillas, a member of the neo-fascist group, Spanish Social Movement (Movimiento Social Espanol), was arrested and tried for his alleged involvement in the killing of Muguruza, but soon released due to the lack of evidence.[8]
Later seven individuals, including a former police officer, Ángel Duce Hernández, were arrested in late July 1990.[9] Of them, Duce and Ricardo Saenz de Ynestrillas were the members of a right-wing group called National Anti-Terrorist Group of Spain and were put trial for killing Muguruza.[10] Duce confessed in the trial that he and two other men murdered Muguruza for political reasons, but claimed that Ynestrillas was not involved in the attack.[10] Duce was sentenced to 100 years for the murder of Muguruza.[11] Duce was killed in a traffic accident in Alcorcón in August 1997 while he was using a six-day prison permit.[11]
A funeral ceremony was held for Muguruza in Bilbao on 23 November 1989.[12] A monumental sculpture was erected in his honor in Bilbao.[13]
The day, 20 November, Muguruza was assassinated has been commemorated by the Basque people since on the same day another Herri Batasuna leader Santiago Brouard was assassinated in 1984.[14]