• Text size  | | |
• Email this document
• Printable version

Amnesty International Report 2004 - Spain

Covering events from January - December 2003

A constitutional crisis loomed between the Basque autonomous and Spanish governments. The armed Basque group Euskadi Ta Askatasuna (ETA), Basque Homeland and Freedom, carried out shootings and bombings, some of them fatal. There were a number of apparently reckless shootings by Civil Guard or police officers. Many immigrants drowned attempting to reach Spain by sea from North Africa. Detainees made allegations of torture and ill-treatment. The European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman and Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) was strongly critical of the continuing lack of fundamental safeguards against ill-treatment of detainees held under "anti-terrorist" legislation. However, a new law more than doubled the maximum period that suspects could be held incommunicado. The government continued to categorically deny the existence of torture. Unaccompanied foreign children aged 16 or over faced expulsion in circumstances that could contravene international law. There were continuing allegations of ill-treatment or cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment in reception centres for children. Almost 100 women were killed in incidents of gender-based violence.

Crisis in the Basque Country

A number of incidents, mainly related to the Basque Country, increased the threats to freedom of expression and assembly. The fatal shooting by ETA of a Socialist Party activist, Joseba Pagazaurtundua, in the run-up to the municipal elections in February, was a clear attack on such freedoms and the right to life. Continuing tensions during the elections resulted in part from the annulment of 249 candidate lists by the government and the public prosecutor, on the grounds that they contained candidates linked to ETA and the Basque nationalist coalition, Batasuna. The latter was formally banned in March, because of alleged integral links to ETA that Batasuna members have always denied. The Basque parliamentary grouping Sozialista Abertzaleak (SA) was also declared illegal by the Supreme Court on the grounds that it served the interests of Batasuna in Parliament. The Spanish government accused the Basque Nationalist Party (PNV) of "sponsoring" ETA.

In February a National Court judge ordered the precautionary closure of the only entirely Basque language newspaper, Euskaldunon Egunkaria, and the detention of 10 people associated with the newspaper under "anti-terrorist" legislation – a move which appeared to have injurious consequences for the right to freedom of expression.

Throughout the year there was confusion about the legitimacy of political demonstrations and concern about attempts to stifle the expression of nationalist sentiments on the grounds that these were synonymous with support for armed groups such as ETA. Tension between the Basque and Spanish authorities rose steadily after the Basque Parliament failed, for various reasons, to dissolve SA. A new plan for Basque self-determination, launched by the Basque President (the Lehendakari), was described by the Spanish authorities as a deliberate attack on the sovereignty of the Spanish people and was challenged by them in the courts.

ETA killings

ETA attempted to stifle freedom of expression with shootings, bombings and campaigns of intimidation, including of civilians.

• Joseba Pagazaurtundea was shot dead in February. He was a member of the Basta Ya movement, which is vigorously critical of ETA violence, and a former member of the ETA Politico-Militar wing. He was on sick leave from his post as commander of the Municipal Police of Andoain following persistent death threats.

• In July at least 13 people, including tourists, were injured in bomb explosions in the resorts of Alicante and Benidorm.

Torture allegations

Detainees held incommunicado, mainly ETA suspects, said they were tortured or ill-treated by Civil Guards or police officers.

• In November the European Court of Human Rights set out the details of a case it was examining of 15 Catalans suspected of being sympathizers of a Catalan independence movement. The Catalans alleged they had been subjected to physical and mental torture and inhuman and degrading treatment on their arrest and in custody in Catalonia and at the Civil Guard headquarters in Madrid in mid-1992.

• In February, following the closure of Euskaldunon Egunkaria, a group of directors and journalists were arrested and held incommunicado. After being released, Martxelo Otamendi Egiguren and several fellow detainees said they had been tortured by asphyxiation with a plastic bag (bolsa), exhausting physical exercises, threats and simulated execution. The government lodged a complaint against them with the National Court, accusing them of "collaborating with an armed band [ETA]" by making torture claims as part of an ETA-inspired strategy to undermine democratic institutions. AI responded that the best way to guard against false complaints was to introduce greater safeguards and was concerned that the government's reaction, before thorough examination of the detainees' accusations, risked fostering a climate of impunity in which detainees or prisoners were afraid to report torture or ill-treatment. No reply was received to AI appeals for a thorough investigation of the journalists' complaints, irrespective of whether formal complaints had been lodged with the courts.

Impasse on torture

In March the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) published the findings of a visit in July 2001. The report criticized the failure of the authorities, despite earlier reassurances, to implement previous CPT recommendations. These included the right of access to lawyers at the outset of detention for suspects held under "anti-terrorist" legislation. The CPT called for concrete action to implement two other fundamental safeguards – the right to communicate the fact of detention to a third party and the right to medical examination by a doctor of choice as well as by an officially appointed doctor. It also urged the creation of a fully independent investigating agency to process complaints against law enforcement agencies. It reminded Spain of its obligations to cooperate with the CPT, stating that "the current impasse ... on a subject as important as the safeguards against ill-treatment ... cannot be allowed to continue".

However, far from examining how to implement long-standing recommendations by the CPT and other international bodies to strengthen safeguards for detainees, the authorities more than doubled the maximum period for which certain people could be held incommunicado. In October a reform of the Code of Criminal Procedure with regard to provisional imprisonment entered into force. It allowed a suspect to be held incommunicado for a total of 13 days: a maximum of five days in police or Civil Guard custody, followed by a further eight days in prison if ordered by a judge.

In November the Spanish parliament approved a reform of the Penal Code that widened the definition of torture to include among the motives of torture "discrimination of any kind".

Reckless shootings

There were reports of reckless shootings by Civil Guards in response to stone-throwing incidents in frontier areas between Spain and Morocco. The shootings had fatal consequences in at least one case and resulted in severe injuries to Moroccan nationals in others. Over 200 stoning incidents were reported, in which Civil Guards also sustained injuries. AI expressed concern in November at the number of reportedly "accidental" shootings in the last two years and underlined the dangers of firing warning shots in the air.

• In July an inquiry was opened into the case of a Civil Guard officer who was filmed firing with apparent recklessness at several Moroccans attempting to reach the beach in the autonomous city of Ceuta.

• In October a Civil Guard officer reportedly shot dead Moroccan national Mustafa Labrach, one of a group suspected of attempting to smuggle goods to Morocco from Ceuta. According to disputed reports, a Civil Guard patrol, which had come under a hail of stones at the frontier fence, at first responded with anti-riot equipment. One officer then fired a warning shot in the air, but slipped on the wet and rocky ground and fatally shot Mustafa Labrach in the mouth. An internal investigation was opened, followed by a judicial investigation after initial uncertainties over judicial competence, because the death had occurred in "No man's land" between national borders.

Racism

In July the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) published a report on the steps taken by Spain towards combating racism and intolerance. The report noted that racism and xenophobia persisted and that there was widespread use in public debate of arguments and imagery that created a negative climate around immigration and immigrants. Racism particularly concerned non-EU nationals and Roma. ECRI commented that the racist dimension of offences tended to be overlooked, and stressed the urgent need for improvement of control mechanisms in complaints of race-related ill-treatment against law enforcement officers.

Immigrant drownings

Thousands of immigrants risked the sea crossing from Morocco, including an increased proportion of unaccompanied children. New arrivals faced a serious lack of resources and infrastructure for receiving or detaining them. Over 150 immigrants drowned before reaching Spanish shores. The national Ombudsperson opened an investigation into the drowning of 36 undocumented immigrants when their boat sank in the Bay of Cádiz within close proximity of the US-Spanish naval base at Rota. There were allegations that the base had ignored a warning that the boat was in danger and that the authorities had shown negligence by taking an unreasonably long time to launch a rescue bid.

Expulsions and ill-treatment of children

In October the Attorney General issued an instruction establishing criteria for the expulsion of unaccompanied foreign children aged 16 or over. The guidelines did not provide for examination of each case on an individual basis and appeared to violate the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child as well as Spain's own laws on protection of minors and on discrimination.

The authorities failed to meet their obligation to abide by international standards on the care and protection of unaccompanied children. Allegations were made of ill-treatment or inhuman and degrading conditions in reception centres for children.

• Ill-treatment, overcrowding, abusive distribution of sedatives, lack of supervision and racist attitudes were reported in the secure reception centre in Gáldar, Gran Canaria. In July, four prosecutors attached to the juvenile section of the High Court of Canarias claimed that the 42 children held there were receiving "humiliating" treatment. In one case an African child had allegedly been beaten and held naked and in chains for a whole night by one of the centre's teachers.

'Disappearances'

The UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances added Spain to its list of countries where people "disappeared". It was concerned about the period under the government of General Franco (1939-75) and asked the government to investigate two cases dating from after 1945, the date of the UN's foundation. Efforts continued to locate the bodies of some of the thousands shot during or after the 1936-39 Civil War. However, families continued to suffer difficulties in their search for lost relatives, owing to lack of funds or of a common and internationally recognized policy for locating, accessing and exhuming the burial sites.

Violence against women

According to official figures, 98 women were killed as a result of gender-based violence: 72 at the hands of partners, 10 by other relatives, and 16 in other incidents of violence directed particularly at women, including rape or trafficking for prostitution. Although judges were accorded greater powers to accelerate complaints procedures and increase sentences, some courts continued to show a disturbing lack of due diligence with regard to victims.

• In September the General Council of the Judiciary opened an investigation into the conduct of a Barcelona judge who had allegedly ignored 13 attempts by Ana María Fábregas to lodge a complaint against her husband for violence. She was killed with a hammer on the doorstep of her house in June.