"All I want is for all those responsible for the torture to accept what they have done."
- Last Friday the room of the Women's House was filled I believe you: the spectators went to listen to the talk The Truth of the Tortured Women.
At the round table organized by the Permanent Social Forum and Antxeta Irratia, three women who have been tortured have testified about the torture suffered: Look at Azkarate Badiola, Kristina Gete Etxeberria and Leire Gallastegi Ormazabal.
The lawyer and researcher at the Basque Institute of Criminology, Laura Pego, was in charge of contextualizing the testimonies and showed how most of the women who have been tortured have suffered the same pattern. Pego, one of the authors of the report on torture and ill-treatment in the Basque Country (1960-2014), elaborated a gender interpretation on cases of torture and ill-treatment in the Basque Country. Pego explained that the investigation has shown that the types of torture are different according to gender, and the testimonies of Azkarate, Gete and Gallastegi also showed this.
In the lawyer's words, women suffer "more shocks, more haircuts, more sexual violence and more humiliations." Also, among the common types of torture is the “paroa”, which consists of standing for many hours before a wall. It is also common for torturers to be threatened with something bad that is passed on to relatives. Pego stressed that the gender perspective in the violation of human rights is fundamental, as, if not, “there is a risk of setting aside some of the victims”.
Nekane Altzelai, representing the Social Forum, was in charge of putting an end to the round table. He said that the report on torture presented by Pego “must be a milestone in bringing about the institutional recognition that the victims deserve.” It also urged the Basque Government and the Government of Navarre to continue to provide the necessary means to carry out projects that contribute to the recognition of torture. In this regard, he acknowledged that the violence against women that has taken place in the context of the political conflict has been "particularly cruel", due to the structural and chauvinist violence in society. Moreover, he stated that listening to the testimonies of the victims is “an instrument with extraordinary recognition potential”, and that it is necessary to “socialize the drama of torture” to ensure that nothing of this will be repeated in the future.
Here's the video that picks up Miren Azkarate's words:
This news was posted by Irutxuloko Hitza and we brought it to ARGIA thanks to the CC-by-sa license.
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