On Tuesday morning the Navarra Network of Torturados announced the news in the concentration in front of the City Council of Pamplona. The Government of Navarra has approved nineteen new citizens on the list of victims of political motivation caused by the extreme right, the police or the Civil Guard. In April the Government approved the first twelve victims, including five tortured, but not so contemporary, victims. The Network has not made known the names and surnames of the nineteen new victims admitted, but has made known of the five tortured victims and has underlined the importance of this recognition.

Mikeldi Díez was arrested in 2005, accusing him of belonging to ETA; Iker Aristu and Oihan Ataun in 2008, accused of belonging to the youth organization Segi or of committing street attacks; Garbiñe Urra in 2009, with macro against Segi; and Iker Moreno in 2011, in the operation against Ekin and Askatasuna organizations. The five were arrested and tortured by the Spanish Police or the Civil Guard. Iker Aristu, Oihan Ataun and Iker Moreno were arrested in operations conducted by Fernando Grande Marlaska, and in the case of Ataun, moreover, the European Court of Human Rights condemned Spain for not investigating its allegations of torture.

More than 1,000 cases of torture to be reported

The Navarra Network of Torturados has called on all the torturers to submit their requests for recognition as victims to “continue to advance in the knowledge and reparation of the whole truth”. Publicizing all that has happened is for the network “the most effective way to eradicate this practice” and remember that torture has been a “cruel reality” of six decades.

In April, the Tortured Network of Navarra and the Basque Institute of Criminology notified the verification of 1,083 cases of torture for the period 1960-1975. Of these, 741 correspond to the period 1979-2015. With those who have reported on Tuesday, at the moment 31 are the victims of political motivation, the extreme right groups or the public officials that the Government of Navarra has recognised. Ten of them are tortured citizens. There would therefore be another 1,073 cases of torture to be recognized.

The Navarre Recognition and Reparation Commission announced in early 2023 that it would open a period of four and a half years to submit applications for recognition as a victim. In April he reported that he had 60 cases studied. It is a long procedure that includes interviews with victims or their relatives, or the study of doctors and psychologists.

Motions in municipalities

During the concentration in the Plaza del Ayuntamiento de Pamplona the motion presented by the network in each locality is discussed. Mikel Soto and Merche González took the floor on behalf of the network. The motion requires recognition, reparation and assurance of non-repetition, and has come forward with the support of EH Bildu, PSN and Dean. UPN abstained and the councillor, María Caballero, said to Soto and González “I believe you”. The only party against it has been the PP.

Soto welcomes the adoption of the motion, explains that the same motion has been tabled by the network in 99 localities in Navarre, provided they are tortured, and that it has been approved in 63.