MADRID, Spain – The Basque regional government's president will be tried for meeting members of Batasuna, a party banned for its links to the armed separatist group ETA, a Spanish court said Monday.

Basque regional president Juan Jose Ibarretxe and two members of Spain's governing Socialist party – Patxi Lopez and Rodolfo Ares – are charged with committing a crime by meeting with Batasuna leaders.

Batasuna was declared illegal in 2003 on grounds it is part of the militant separatist group ETA.

The meetings took place after ETA declared a cease-fire in March 2006. The group ended the cease-fire in December that year, saying the government of Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero had reneged on delivering political concessions promised during peace talks.

Ibarretxe – who belongs to the conservative Basque Nationalist Party – met with Batasuna leader Arnaldo Otegi and others in April 2006 and January 2007 when optimism about ETA's cease-fire was still high. Lopez and Ares, both members of the Basque branch of Zapatero's party, met Batasuna leaders publicly in July 2006.

The Superior Court of Justice of the Basque country said the three would be tried on Jan. 8.

The case was brought by two Basque region activist groups that had opposed Zapatero's peace talks with ETA. Under Spanish law, private parties can ask courts to bring criminal charges.

ETA has killed more than 825 people since 1968. It is blamed for three killings so far this year.