Joan Balmaseda and Jon Mirena Landa presented the work to the Committee on Justice of the Basque Parliament. The Valuation Commission is responsible for the recognition of the victims referred to in Law 12/2016 of the Basque Parliament and since 2020, in four reports, it has recognised 238 victims, all caused by police forces or the security forces of the Spanish State. Of the 93 deaths, 73 are men and 20 are women.

The typology of the recognized victims is different, some are tortured, others killed or injured by the Civil Guard or the Spanish Police, and others by the GAL, Basque Spanish Battalion (BVE) or other para-police group.

Although they were not named in that committee, the data provided make some of the cases of victims of terrorism known. For example, Gurutze Iantzi and José María Quesada died of torture; the former was killed in 1993 at the headquarters of Tres Cantos de la Guardia Civil in Madrid, and the latter died in 1968 due to serious consequences suffered after police abuse.

Bernardo Bidaola Atxega is another recognized victim. His body appeared in a wooded area near Sara, after being wounded by the Civil Guard in an area of the village of Etxalar. Carlos Saldise Kortarena, for his part, was shot dead by BVE in 1980 at the door of his home in Lezo. The committee recognized in its presentation today the death of eight people in total.

EgiaZor explained at a hearing on Thursday that 11 of the victims were seriously injured, including the spouses who were injured in 1980 by the outbreak of a bomb placed by BVE in Errenteria under his vehicle. The case of Josu Lovers Arnaiz, shot by the GAL in 1985, has also been recognized. And in 1983 he suffered kidnapping and serious injuries in the case of José María Larretxea Goñi. This case of kidnapping was ordered by former minister Barrionuevo, who recognized it in an interview given to the newspaper 'El País'.

They are also victims caused by smoke buckets or rubber balls thrown by the police. In the case of Peio Mindegia, for example, a pot of smoke launched at a short distance against his face in 1979 left him blind. There are also 74 cases of torture, including Stibaliz Olabarrieta and Kepa Solana, tortured by the Ertzaintza; Josu Guzkitza, Enkar Blanco, Dione Ugalde and Pilar de la Torre, tortured by the Civil Guard; or Xabier Onaindia, Sabino Zarandona and Spanish police.

Difficulties in continuing the investigation

Balmaseda and Mirena Landa commented that, due to lack of means, they have difficulties to continue the research and above all because they do not have forensic doctors. For this reason, several victims have been unresolved for two years, “which means increasing their pain”. He has also referred to the difficulties that the archives have in obtaining reports such as the military archive of Ferrol in Galicia or the archives of the different Galician courts. They have therefore asked the Basque Parliament to intervene in resolving these problems in order to deal with them.

Egiari Zor welcomes the new set of reviews of the Valuation Committee: “We must applaud these new official recognitions, which are an act of justice for the people who were murdered, wounded and tortured with total impunity. It is an act of moral restoration that establishes the truth of what happened and leaves behind “the false accounts that justified and legitimized the crimes against them”.

461 recognitions in Hego Euskal Herria

According to data provided by Egiari Zor, in Araba, Bizkaia and Gipuzkoa, 427 people have been officially recognised for violations of human rights in the family sphere. In Navarra 34 more cases have been recognized, so in Hego Euskal Herria 461 victims have been officially recognized.

Last Wednesday the committee explained in the Basque Parliament that 64 cases have not been dealt with by the submission of out-of-date applications. In view of this, Egiari Zor pointed out that “there are still thousands of outstanding declarations” and asked the Basque Government to reopen the deadlines: “We have been waiting for too many years and we deserve to be able to exercise our right to be legally recognised.”