Basque National Liberation Movement prisoners

Many people have been imprisoned, placed on remand, or otherwise kept in custody due to their illegal activity in support of the Basque National Liberation Movement (MLNV using its Spanish acronym).

[26] The same month that year, UPN, a regional party of Navarre, warned it would not endorse the Spanish government's national budget if it did not strongly commit to the dispersal policies of Basque prisoners.

[98] Ahead of the European Court of Human Rights' ruling, the minister of interior Fernandez Díaz declared that its implementation to the inmates in similar circumstances may be skipped by means of "juridical engineering".

[101] Pau Pérez-Sales, activist and senior expert assisting both domestic and international tribunals has stressed the degree of impunity surrounding torture in Spain.

This policy changed in the late 80s when French President Mitterrand decided that France would no longer be an ETA 'safe-haven' and began co-operation with Spanish authorities and extradition of ETA-members indicted for terrorism to Spain.

Otamendi, among other editors was arrested by the Guardia Civil as a result of the Court order and claims to have been stripped naked, blindfolded, touched with unidentified objects around his genitals and subject to sleep deprivation and simulated execution.

They were eventually absolved by the Spanish Audiencia Nacional (High Court) in 2010, which also criticized the Judge's decision to close the only newspaper at the time which was fully in the Basque language without more solid constitutional grounds.

After being arrested he was transferred to hospital with "a fractured ear drum, four broken vertebrae in his back, bruising all over his body, blackened eyes, a kidney malfunction and was in a state of semi-consciousness.

[116][117]On the 13 of February 1981 Joxe Arregi, an alleged member of ETA, died of pneumonia in the hospital of Carabanchel prison after spending 9 days in police custody.

No judgment was made in court as to whether Arregi had died as a result of the torture he received because neither the prosecutor nor the Human Rights Organization party to the case asked the judge to do so.

[55][118][119] In September 2014, a Basque report commissioned by the human rights society Argituz and based on the Istanbul Protocol confirmed the veracity of the 45 torture testimonies analyzed spanning from 1982 to 2010 for detainees held incommunicado under the Antiterrorist Law.

"[120] An expert panel appointed by Mariano Rajoy's cabinet to evaluate the provisions in place for the prevention of torture underscored that "mistreatment cases are not exceptional, but symptoms of structural deficiencies", recommending as well to install CCTV cameras in all areas of the police stations.

[102] In February 2018, in the midst of a political controversy, with the Basque Nationalist Party MP Aitor Esteban urging the Spanish government to condemn Civil Guard head Manuel Sanchez Corbí for targeting his party in the fight against ETA, labelled as 'the evil', Esteban disclosed that the law-enforcement official was condemned in 1997 for torture against a Basque, and pardoned subsequently by the Spanish government.

[125][126] Two years later, in 2004 a United Nations report written by Theo van Boven stated that the fact that detainees are held incommunicado for up to 5 days allows abuses to take place, and advised the Spanish government to make changes to this practice.

Many of the allegations referred to the practice of asphyxiation with plastic bags; repeated kicks and blows of the hand on the head or testicles; forced physical exercises for long periods of time; claims of sexual harassment or abuse; threats of execution, rape, miscarriage or injury to partners and relatives.

[132] In 2015 the ECtHR found Spain guilty of violating the procedural aspects of article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) in the case brought against it by Arratibel Garciandia.

[134][135] In January 2018, the European Court of Human Rights ruled against Spain for degrading and inhuman treatment inflicted by the Civil Guard to Mattin Sarasola and Igor Portu, two ETA members convicted of the T-4 bombings in Madrid.

[138] In May 2019, fifteen independent experts making up the UNO Committee against Torture resolved that Gorka Lupiañez, condemned for ETA membership and other related offences by Spanish tribunals, was subjected to torture by the Civil Guard in 2007 during incommunicado detention, using methods such as bag suffocation, battering, sleep deprivation, and death threats, as denounced by the victim; following Lupiañez's denouncement, the Spanish authorities accused him of "following ETA's agenda".

The Committee once more urges Spanish authorities to stop incommunicado detentions for their relation to torture, reminds them that nothing justifies it, as well as demanding that they "pursue diligent, immediate and impartial investigations".

[139][140] Following a long process pursued by Spanish authorities to extradite Iratxe Sorzabal, an ETA member,[141][142][143] the Paris Court of Appeal rejected in December 2020 a 4th European Arrest Warrant on the grounds that Spain did not make the efforts necessary to investigate evidence of torture inflicted on her.

[146] In January 2021, the ECtHR condemned again Spain for the passivity shown in conducting proper investigation on serious torture allegations denounced in by Íñigo González, member of the disbanded organization Ekin, following his detention in 2011 by the Civil Guard in Pamplona on orders of the judge Fernando Grande-Marlaska, so breaching the article 3 of the European Convention of Human Rights; a report confirmed he suffered post-traumatic stress syndrome.

This manual, written entirely in the Basque language and eventually leaked to the press, was named Atxiloketari Aurre Eginez, 2º zkia (Facing Detention, Volume 2).

Starting with a first hand account of a detention process, the manual highlights the comfort of court jail cells, and says a forensic doctor will visit detainees before they appear before a judge.

"[152] However, the NGO Torturaren Aurkako Taldea [eu] (TAT) has pointed out that this document is totally different in style, tone and language to other 'manuals' found in the possession of the "Commando Araba".

[154][155] Following the permanent truce by ETA in 2011, the echo of events against the Spanish dispersal policy and in support of the prisoners' rights have gained momentum and a more central position in the Basque political agenda.

[173] In its first 2 years Harrera Elkartea has helped 18 ex-prisoners back into work, 45 to get their driving license, and about 40 to get dental treatment and sort out eye problems.

[177] In May 2014 the Minister of the Interior, Jorge Fernández Díaz said that the government would not consider the ending of the policy of dispersion unless ETA disbanded completely, or until the individual prisoners ask for forgiveness.

[180] In August 2017, the minister of interior Juan Ignacio Zoido declared he would not undertake any measures in order to change the prison policy until ETA disbands.

[182][183] On 11 January 2020, the judge of the National Court of Spain José Luis Calama ordered the police a close scrutiny of the demonstration against the dispersal policy taking place in Bilbao to watch out for possible "humiliation of the victims" or "praise or justification of terrorism".

[189] In February, the Civil Guard released a report to the Audiencia Nacional stating that the Spanish General Secretary of Penitentiary Institutions were holding contacts with the support circles of the Basque prisoners, prompting Pablo Casado, PP's opposition leader in Spain, to demand the resignation of the minister of Interior Grande-Marlaska;[190] the association Sare cited in the report denounced threats and insults to his spokesperson Joseba Azkarraga as a result.