The Valuation Commission established under Law 12/2016, known as the "police abuse" law, has included in its sixth report 60 new individuals recognized as victims. Of these, 54 suffered mistreatment or torture – one resulting in death – four were shot, and two others were injured by rubber bullets. The total proposed compensation for this group amounts to 993,630.16 euros.
The annual report was presented this Wednesday before the Justice and Human Rights Commission of the Basque Parliament, in a session in which the president of the body, Juana Balmaseda, and the vice president, Jon Landa, intervened.
Balmaseda detailed that, to date, the Commission has recognized the status of victims for 305 individuals, 60 of them included in this latest report for events that occurred between 1968 and 1999. 284 files are still pending study.
In the 22 plenary sessions held so far, 230 files have been resolved: the 60 already mentioned have been accepted, none have been rejected, 166 have been inadmissible, and 4 have been withdrawn. The president added that requests continue to arrive late, currently totaling 416 applications.
Profile of the victims and amounts of compensation
The document specifies that, of the 60 individuals recognized for events occurring between 1968 and 1999, 54 reported mistreatment or torture, one of them deceased; four were hit by gunfire, in three cases attributable to members of the state security forces and in another to a paramilitary group; and two suffered injuries from the impact of rubber bullets.
The total compensable amount for this group is set at 993,630.16 euros. Of that amount, 618,633.16 euros are allocated to victims of torture and mistreatment, 34,999 euros to one victim injured by a rubber bullet, and 339,998 euros to deceased or injured victims by firearm.
Regarding the affiliation of the affected individuals, the report includes individuals linked to ETA, to the abertzale left, relatives of prisoners, pro-Amnesty managers, anti-capitalist autonomous commands, the communist party, or the LAB union, among other groups.
Reopening of deadlines and changes in the law
After exposing three specific cases collected in the report, the vice president of the Commission, Jon Landa, has detailed the recommendations made. Among them is a reform of the law that allows reopening the deadlines in order to give "response to the new requests from the victims."
Landa has argued that those who "have been left out are knocking at the door" and "it should be opened." In his opinion, "another stage of the process" could begin and it would be necessary to debate until what date to extend it, whether "2011 or 2014."
The Commission also considers that one of the main deficits of the norm is the compensation regime and proposes eliminating the prohibition of financially compensating cases of mistreatment and torture.
Furthermore, the body deems it "urgent and unpostponable" to hold an annual act of collective recognition, at the highest institutional level, directed at these victims, pending since 2023. It also demands strengthening the human and material resources of the Commission itself.
Another of the proposals is the creation of a parliamentary committee to involve Parliament more directly and to disseminate "the bleeding reality represented by human rights violations."
Likewise, it is emphasized that certain detention centers "appear time and again as places where severe torture was practiced," which is why they propose that they be marked as "places of memory."
Reactions from parliamentary groups
In the turn of intervention of the groups, the PNV has pointed out that what is collected in the report is "terrible" and "cannot be trivialized because it occurs in the context of the State."
For this formation, the work of the Commission must serve above all to repair the victims and "recognize their pain." It has added that society must assume that respect for human rights is "essential to build a democratic system."
In that line, the PNV has highlighted that there are different narratives and political positions regarding human rights "depending on who violates human rights and to whom and who suffers those violations." "If one day for the State the death of a civil guard or of a tortured person has the same value, then we will have succeeded and, if for those who legitimized ETA, the death of someone from ETA and the death of a civil guard are on the same level from human rights, we will achieve it," he added.
The jeltzale group has claimed that all political forces should grant "the same treatment to all violations." In their view, "it is not worth" denouncing only "some violations" and demanding a singular institutional recognition for some, while in other cases "when it is not of interest, acting differently."
EH Bildu, for its part, has emphasized that institutional recognition is being granted "to all those people who for years have been invisible." It has also pointed out that "almost no one doubts that here the State also used violence and there were cases of torture" because this "was part of a decision and a State strategy."
The coalition has denounced the "denial and discrimination" suffered by these victims and has stressed that compensations also "help" in their reparation, so "there should not be first and second-class victims."
It has also reminded that there is "much work to be done" since, according to various investigations, "there were more than 300 deaths caused by the State and more than 3,000 cases of torture." Consequently, it has expressed support for creating a parliamentary presentation, reforming the law, and opening a new deadline so that "not a single State victim can be left without the recognition that corresponds to them."
The group of Basque socialists has expressed its "absolute respect and solidarity" with all victims. It considers their recognition essential for "the normalization of coexistence" and to build "a rigorous and inclusive critical memory of the past."
According to what has been stated, the socialists maintain the need to review all "unjust sufferings in a context of political motivation," which "are always unjustifiable," and even more so when "they have occurred, also using the tools of the State, they are even more serious."
The PSE has described these episodes as "very harsh, unjustifiable" and has demanded "condemnation and solidarity without ambiguity, without softening." It has reminded that the recognition event scheduled for November 23 was postponed due to the electoral call and sees it reasonable to open new deadlines once the pending applications have been analyzed.
The PP has stated that any torture that has occurred must be condemned and its victims deserve reparation. It has emphasized that belonging to a terrorist organization cannot justify that anyone be tortured because that would mean "turning the State into a torturer as well." "And having suffered an abuse does not erase the crimes that person may have committed," it has added.
Regarding the content of the report, it has drawn attention to the fact that in one of the cases a person is recognized as a victim despite the text itself stating that "it cannot be determined whether there was a disproportionate use of force."
The popular group has also warned of the "important" difference between "describing specific abuses and extending a suspicion over all those who wear a uniform."
Furthermore, it has demanded explanations for the heading of one of the sections, "Antigarantist attitude of judges, prosecutors, forensic experts, and public defenders," a conclusion it considers "quite serious" and in which "very serious accusations against professionals" are made.