February 13, the day against torture, is the anniversary of Joxe Arrangi's death. This year marks 42 years since Arrangi's death in the hands of the police, and on Sunday they celebrated the act of their native people, Zizurkil. The Egia Zor Foundation has emphasized in it that Arrangi’s cases are special because they are deaths, but they are “part of a much broader disease,” “part of systematic torture.”

They denounce the impunity of Arrangi's death. In his arrest, 73 police officers participated, who tried only two: the police Antonio Gil Rubiales and Julián Marín Ríos were sentenced to three and four months in prison and later pardoned by the government of Felipe González. They even went up. They warn that for this illegal practice, torture, to take place for decades, the Spanish State guaranteed the possibility of doing so without impunity.

EH Bildu has also denounced on 13 February that the Spanish State has used torture “systematically”, in particular “against Basque independence”. EH spokesman Bildu, Unai Urruzuno, has criticized impunity and called for victims of torture to stop being secondary: “Torture also deserves truth, justice and reparation.”

GKS has also published the reading and called for the amnesty of “We Ratify in the Defense of Political Rights to Militancy.” They have determined that they have used torture “the bourgeoisie and the subordinate governments, especially to deal with the revolutionary labour movement.” They warn that torture is “a component of bourgeois domination” and that the bourgeoisie is willing to “dispense with all expressions of humanity as well”. They stress that torture is not only a matter of the past but also of the present.

The Free Organization has also offered a press conference in front of Intxaurrondo’s headquarters to “recall and report hundreds of cases of torture occurring there.” They have also denounced the following harassment cases and warned of the validity of the “conditions for the repetition of the facts”. To avoid repetition, they have confirmed their struggle on the path of the independent and socialist Basque State, and have called for amnesty because they believe that “the Basque Country is the only guarantee that it will not suffer any harassment”. They report that after the concentration of Intxaurrondo the Ertzaintza has identified and analyzed three members, with prior notice from the Civil Guard.

Blue Folders Program

On Saturday in Intxaurrondo more than four hundred tortured petitioners asked the institutions for “firm initiatives” of recognition and reparation. In this event, the project Blue Folders was presented: Day Against Torture begins the presentation tour of the documentary Blue Folders to socialize the issue of torture. The first session will be in Zizurkil, on Monday at 18:00, followed by the talk of director Ander Iriarte. “The beginning in Zizurkil is symbolic and emotional,” they point out. All information is available on the portal Karpetaurdinak.eus.