Today in Berria.info:
Van Boven: “Denying the problem hinders the solution”
He pointed out that he would be looking into whether torture is “the tip of an iceberg or whether its practice is limited”
Editorial Staff – DONOSTIA (San Sebastian)
Theo Van Boven, the Special Rapporteur of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights on the question of torture, gave a press conference in Madrid yesterday. This week the UN representative has been visiting Spain and the Basque Country to investigate the torture claims that have been filed, and has held meetings with officials, civil society organisations and a number of people who have filed complaints of torture.
In his appearance before the press Van Boven said that he had received many testimonies and views, but added that depending on the sources they were “very contradictory”. He said he had been with “a number of people who had been tortured” and with other officials who had told him that “in Spain there is no torture.” In response to this he said, “denying the problem hinders the solution.” At the same time the UN representative pointed out that most sources had told him that “torture is not systematically applied.”
In Madrid he met with the Spanish Foreign and Interior Ministers, the Heads of the Spanish Police and Civil Guard, the Secretaries of State Security and Justice, the Attorney-General, the Head Public Prosecutor of the Spanish National High Court, the Spanish Ombudsman and Prison Institutions, among others.
In the Basque Country he was with Etxerat, the Torturaren Aurkako Taldea (anti-torture group), Elkarri, and with Javier Balza and Joseba Azkarraga, the heads of the Interior and Justice Departments, respectively, of the Government of the Basque Autonomous Community [of Araba, Bizkaia and Gipuzkoa]. In addition, Van Boven heard the first-hand testimonies of Unai Romano and Juan Carlos Subijana, who were arrested in Gasteiz (Vitoria) in September 2001, and of Martxelo Otamendi, Joan Mari Torrealdai and Txema Auzmendi, detained in the Egunkaria case.
The declarations that were heard will make up the first item in the report due to be published between March and April of next year.
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