- The Supreme Court confirms the 24-year sentence imposed by the National Court in February 2022. Iratxe Sorzabal argued that his testimony used in the trial is that of five days after being tortured, but the Supreme Court denies that he was tortured.
Iratxe Sorzabal was arrested in the French State in 2015 and has been detained until her arrival in Spain last year. He was tried on charges of an attack in Gijón and sentenced to 24 years in prison. In five days of detention in 2001, Sorzabal reported that the bag, electrodes, blows and threats were constant.
The court examining the appeal was composed of Judges Manuel Marchena (president and rapporteur), Miguel Colmenero, Andrés Palomo, Susana Polo and Javier Hernández. They feel that it is not enough for Sorzabal to denounce torture before the NGOs and that does not show that he was tortured.
On the contrary, they indicate in their judgment that during the detention it was examined by the contentious doctor and was not concluded, and that the numerous tests carried out subsequently in the hospital did not show injuries that could correspond to torture. As a result, the court finds that it cannot be said that the case is not investigated.
Amnesty International and the Council of Europe’s Committee on the Prevention of Torture considered Sorzabal’s torture credible. However, for the Ministry of Finance and Public Administrations, the work of these institutions is very respectable, but judicial institutions cannot read their reports without a sufficient critical perspective.
In addition, the jury considered that Sorzabal’s declaration was not essential in its sanction, and the sanction was based on a large number of other documents and indications.