Video Against Torture

Today at Berria English:

TAT video against torture to start being shown to public

After the Office for Human Rights of the Basque Autonomous Community Government had indicated it would not be taking on the video, and as the video is not going to be shown on the EITB Basque Autonomous Community broadcasting network, TAT itself is planning to show it itself in the towns and neighbourhoods of the Basque Country

Eider Goenaga – HERNANI (Gipuzkoa)

In Hernani yesterday the TAT anti-torture group presented the video it has just produced to show that opposing torture is “the responsibility of the whole society”. TAT’s intention was for the Basque Government to take on the video and then broadcast it on EITB radio and TV. The Basque Government Office for Human Rights will not, however, be taking on the video, so it cannot be broadcast by the EITB. Consequently, TAT has assumed responsibility and will start spreading the video’s message in all the neighbourhoods and towns of the Basque Country.

The video produced by TAT starts with a scene of a man in a cell, naked, bending down with a hood on his head; Unai Romano, Susana Atxaerandio and Garikoitz Urizar then appear and give a brief testimony of the tortures they suffered. In the Spanish version of the video Oskar Bizkai speaks instead of Urizar. The video ends with a scene from the demo organised by TAT in Bilbo on June 8, 2002. “It’s not the problem of just a few. Torture is the scourge of society, it’s everyone’s responsibility,” says a voice at the end of the video.

According to Izaskun Gonzalez, the TAT representative, they were prompted to produce a video against torture by “the fact that a year and a half ago the Basque Government set up an initiative concerning victims”. “We aim to show that there is also another reality in the Basque Country, that there are other victims, too, and that there are many people suffering unspeakable pain.” With this aim in mind they met with Txema Urkijo of the Human Rights Office on Wednesday and explained TAT’s objective to him. Urkijo pointed out to them that the Basque Government would not be subscribing to the content of the video.

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