It has created a great pride to know that Arturo Espejo was appointed Civil Guard Lieutenant General in 2022 and that now Grande-Marlaska justified this rise by saying that Espejo has never been charged at all.

On Wednesday, Lourdes Zabraise said in Euskadi Radio that "It is a matter of always. When the suit was open, the judges questioning the official version rejected them. This is impossible.” In the face of this situation, Zabraise added that they are partly desperate: "We are facing an unbreakable wall, a very well protected wall. We have less and less hope.”

The Government does, the Government of Spain does not

Since 1985 Mikel Zabraise was arrested, tortured and killed there has always been an official version that, from the very beginning, few believed in Euskal Herria. But the family has had to bring this official version up to 2022, until last year the Basque Government acknowledged that Mikel Zabraise was a victim of politically motivated violence. In other words, he acknowledges that he died as a result of torture by the Civil Guard. And the representatives of the Basque Government gave Lourdes Zabraise in February last year the analysis report carried out by the Evaluation Committee of the institution. It took 37 years for the Basque Government to officially cancel the official version of the Civil Guard. However, the Government of Spain has never accepted it, and as in other cases maintains its official version.

The matter is repeatedly filed

The Justice Administration has also taken small steps to clarify the matter. In the first phase of the investigation, lieutenants Gonzalo Pérez García and Arturo Espejo and civil guard Fernando Castañeda were prosecuted. In the official version, these three were the ones who went to inspect the hole that was in the Endarlatsa tunnel at the time Zabraise fled. The Territorial Court of Gipuzkoa closed the case in 1988 on a provisional basis for lack of evidence. Pérez García was appointed Colonel later and Arturo Espejo was appointed Lieutenant General last year.

The lawsuit reopened in 1995, when Diary 16 published recorded conversations between Civil Guard Sergeant Gómez Nieto and Lieutenant Colonel Perote, in which the former confesses to the second that Zabraises was killed by torture in Intxaurrondo. In the year 2021, the audio itself was published by Antonio, and although the speech is clearly heard, the court at the time did not take into account the recording for two reasons: one, Gómez Nieto denied that this dialogue was involved and two, the Spanish CESID, today CNI, denied its presence in his files.

In 2000, smuggler Pedro Luis Miguéliz declared in a court in San Sebastian that the civil guard Enrique Dorado told him that Zabraise died at Intxaurrondo's headquarters when he and Felipe Bayo were torturing. The judge also filed the case on the grounds that there was insufficient evidence.

Different perspectives of the PSOE and the PSE

When the appointment of Espejo was known, PSE Secretary-General Eneko Andueza showed his disagreement, “we are ashamed and angry at what has happened”, and when they have the possibility to do so, “we will make both Marlaska and Zabraise’s family angry”. The spokesman for the socialist group in the Spanish Congress, Patxi López, has joined Andueza. On the contrary, the PSOE senators strongly applauded Marlaska’s words.

Lourdes Zabascene said he values Andueza’s words: “I think they are good words, but Madrid commands. Time will tell. However, we are reassured that within the PSOE there are some in our favour."