The fact that ETA gives instructions to report tortures does not justify that they are not investigated
Jorge Sainz, from the Diario Vasco newapaper, interviewed me in November 2014. The interview, published in that newspaper on 13th November 2014, takes place the day after Pau Perez, Miguel Angel Navarro, Maitane Arnoso and myself spoke before the Basque Parliament Human Rights Commission to present the report jointly drafted by the Argituz, AEN, Ekimen Elkartea, GAC, Jaiki-Hadi, OME and OSALDE associations titled “Incomunicado Detention and Torture”, the Spanish version of which can be consulted here and the version in Basque here. Unfortunately, the questions -and the answers- in the interview are still perfectly relevant today. Nothing much has changed.
To address the global prevalence of torture and the common denial of the existence of that torture by those responsible, in 1996,
several organizations came together and began what would become a three-year process to develop the Manual on the Effective
Investigation and Documentation of Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (The Istanbul
Protocol). This process involved more than seventy-five health, legal and human rights experts representing over forty organizations,
including the International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims (IRCT). The result of this process was the first set of international guidelines for the investigation and documentation of torture and ill-treatment. Its overarching Principles on the Effective Investigation and Documentation of Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (The Istanbul Principles) were adopted by the
United Nations (UN) General Assembly in 2000.The Istanbul Protocol and its Principles have since been applied in international and
national courts and endorsed by the UN and other key human rights bodies.
As with other articles and interviews, it is my intention to translate them all into English in due course. Once I do, I shall publish the translation here. Until then, you can see the original version in the link below.
This interview was published in
