- Ten years ago, the Civil Guard arrested six people for their alleged membership of Ekin, on the orders of Judge Grande-Marlaska, who has asked for prison. After incommunicado five of them reported torture. The complaints of two of them were admitted by the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg and condemned Spain for not investigating these torture. Today it will be Strasbourg's turn, which will decide on the allegations of torture made by Iñigo González.
The six arrested by the Civil Guard in Navarra were by order of the then judge of the National Court Fernando Grande-Marlaska: Patxi Arratibel, Iñigo González, Iker Moreno, Gorka Zabala, Xabier Beortegi and Gorka Mayo. Five of them reported torture (the only one who did not report torture was Gorka Mayo) and the allegations of Arratibel and Beortegi came to Strasbourg, where the Court of Human Rights acknowledged the credibility of the allegations of torture and condemned Spain for not investigating the allegations. The reader will remember these cases of torture, among others, because Arratibel, in signing his statement, wrote "Aztnugal", seeking help for torture.
Iñigo González denounced having suffered blows, methods such as the bag and rape drills. On 19 January, the Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg is expected to rule on this case.
"Aztnugal": Denounced torture at trial
The journalist Joxerra Senar reported in the Berria newspaper the context of those arrests, as well as the impact on the trial of the arrival of the allegations of torture at the Court in Strasbourg: "On the one hand, the case was not brought to a halt, but it was conditioned in part. In April 2016, Strasbourg had already hit the National Court for the first time for not investigating the complaint of Jon Patxi Arratibel. At the trial, the prosecutor finally reached an agreement with the five defendants and did not enter prison,” he added. Although not imputed, Strasbourg gave Beortegi a ruling in November 2016.