Philippe Bidart

Philippe (also Filipe) Bidart, (1953, Saint-Étienne-de-Baïgorry, Pyrénées-Atlantiques) is a historic leader of the revolutionary organization Basque Iparretarrak.

After his studies at the seminary, he became a teacher in a 'Ikastola'. He became active in the movement Iparretarrak and went into hiding from 19  March,  1982 after the murder of two policemen in Saint-Étienne-de-Baïgorry.

After seven years on the run, he was located and arrested on 20  February, 1988 at Boucau. He was sentenced twice to imprisonment for life. once for the murders of two CRS in 1982 (he has always denied involvement in the shooting), and for the murder of constable Roger Buschman in Biscarrosse on 25  August  1987.

He was incarcerated at the Central Prison of Clairvaux (Aube) from 1988 to 2007, when he was granted parole. Between February 2007 and 2010, he lived in Béziers (Hérault), being subject to the rules of parole and with banishment from the Basque Country and neighboring departments. 

Since his release from prison, Philippe Bidart is a member of the Basque party Batasuna Abertzaleen. In 2010, he returned to his native village where he worked as an accountant in the company of his brother.