MADRID The Spanish Government was preparing last night to release an Eta prisoner on hunger strike, fearing that he is on the brink of death after 114 days without food.

If confirmed, the decision to free Iñaki de Juana Chaos will spark uproar among victims of the Basque separatist group.

More than 75,000 people rallied in Madrid last weekend to demand the continued imprisonment of the convicted killer. At a rival rally in Bilbao held by his supporters, several people were injured by police.

Cadena Ser radio reported that the Interior Ministry was in final consultations to allow de Juana to serve the last year of his sentence, for making terrorist threats, at home under police supervision.

He has already completed an 18-year sentence for leading a cell that killed 25 soldiers and police in the 1980s.

His supporters said yesterday that he would fall into a coma if his blood sugar dropped lower.

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