In 1980s Peru, during a brutal civil war, siblings bravely search for…
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Basque filmmaker Ander Iriarte always suspected that his father had been tortured by the Spanish police. But he wasn’t sure, because his father never spoke of the past. This changed when his father participated in an extensive research project into torture in the Basque Country between 1960 and 2014, promoted by the Basque Government’s Peace Plan.
The videotaped witness statements reveal horrific torture practices. To find out what torture is and what it does to victims, Iriarte interviewed psychiatrists, lawyers and other experts who conducted the study. They discuss in detail the Istanbul Protocol, adopted by the United Nations in 1999, which provided guidelines for the investigation and documentation of torture and other inhuman treatment. The disturbing conclusion is that torture is not the work of deranged sadists, but is systemically embedded in societies.
"I can no longer conceive the report without the film" — Paco Echevarría
"Although directed with a cold head, a documentary that squeezes your heart with one hand." — Aitor Merino
"The story of a painful, uncomfortable, and deliberately silenced truth." — Oskar Matute
“Search, investigate, do not judge, show; as if Ken Loach met Freud.” — Javier Tolentino
"In the year 2022, a documentary that particularly moved me, since I saw it, I can't get it out of my head" — Gaiza Izagirre
“We cannot understand torture without the psychological component and this documentary shows the suffering it generates in all its crudeness." — Pilar Garrido
"It shames us because it puts before our eyes the evidence of the brutality of the State long silenced and denied." — Aitor Gabilondo
"A must-see documentary to discover all the truth." — Maixabel Lasa
"It is clearly shown how the state, instead of protecting, has acted with complete brutality and impunity." — María Jauregi
Citation
Main credits
Iriarte, Ander (film director)
Iriarte, Ander (screenwriter)
Gil, Jorge (screenwriter)
Retegi, Olatz (film producer)
Other credits
Cinematography, Eñaut Castagnet; editing, Laurent Dufreche, Ander Iriarte, Amaia Merino; music, Paula Olaz.
Distributor subjects
Human Rights; Basque Studies; Criminal Justice; Fascism + Repression; Communications + Journalism; History; Activism; Mental Health; Political Science; Race + EthnicityKeywords
WEBVTT
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THE END
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BASQUE GOVERNMENT
00:02:50.880 --> 00:02:51.880
Father.
00:02:52.920 --> 00:02:57.880
-Do you know this person?
-Of course, Amparo Arangoa.
00:02:58.600 --> 00:03:00.800
Do you know her personally?
00:03:00.960 --> 00:03:03.960
Past tense,
because unfortunately she\'s dead.
00:03:09.160 --> 00:03:12.600
She was my cousin\'s wife.
They arrested her in Leitza
00:03:13.560 --> 00:03:18.120
and then beat her up and tortured her
at the Tolosa police station,
00:03:18.280 --> 00:03:21.840
as you can see in the photos.
00:03:22.440 --> 00:03:26.280
She was brave enough
to publish the photos
00:03:26.440 --> 00:03:32.000
and they caused quite a stir.
00:03:36.880 --> 00:03:40.120
Do you recognise this plaque?
00:03:41.840 --> 00:03:43.200
Of course.
00:03:43.360 --> 00:03:46.360
It\'s the memorial plaque
at our house
00:03:46.520 --> 00:03:50.240
in Castaño, Rentería.
00:03:50.640 --> 00:03:54.000
You were already born by then
00:03:54.160 --> 00:03:57.520
and I remember that one morning
the news spread
00:03:57.640 --> 00:04:00.920
that Mikel Arrastia
00:04:01.080 --> 00:04:05.120
had committed suicide
00:04:05.280 --> 00:04:07.520
fleeing from the police.
00:04:08.560 --> 00:04:10.000
Apparently,
00:04:10.160 --> 00:04:15.760
he was overcome by fear
00:04:15.920 --> 00:04:19.040
and rather than being tortured,
00:04:19.200 --> 00:04:24.440
he chose to take his own life.
00:04:32.640 --> 00:04:35.240
Do you recognize this photo?
00:04:36.520 --> 00:04:41.920
So much time has gone by since then!
I was 24 years old.
00:04:44.520 --> 00:04:49.040
-It\'s the same photo, right?
-I\'ve changed so much!
00:04:51.920 --> 00:04:56.360
They took this mug shot of me
at the Antiguo station.
00:04:56.880 --> 00:05:00.560
-When you were detained?
-Yes. For the first time.
00:05:02.960 --> 00:05:07.600
-You talk about it in your book.
-Yes.
00:05:09.000 --> 00:05:13.000
I\'ve read this book again and again.
00:05:14.120 --> 00:05:19.200
And here\'s my first question:
did you ever report being tortured?
00:05:20.600 --> 00:05:24.640
It was impossible back then.
00:05:24.800 --> 00:05:27.720
Who were you going to tell?
00:05:27.880 --> 00:05:33.680
The Civil Guard tortured me
and beat me up several times.
00:05:34.720 --> 00:05:38.280
They carried out arrests
when they wanted. Put up with it.
00:05:39.520 --> 00:05:42.840
And have you reported being tortured
since then?
00:05:44.200 --> 00:05:45.320
No.
00:06:14.160 --> 00:06:17.440
\"HB\'s manipulation of Oyarzun\'s death
shameless, says PNV\"
00:06:33.000 --> 00:06:36.440
\"Three officers sentenced
to four years for torturing Urra\"
00:06:36.600 --> 00:06:38.520
\"Four ETA members arrested in France,
00:06:38.640 --> 00:06:41.680
including two former
Madrid cell members\"
00:06:53.080 --> 00:06:57.520
\"Vizcaya cell car bomb injures
policeman in Bilbao\"
00:06:57.680 --> 00:07:02.160
\"Masa and Sancristóbal jailed
for organising and financing crime\"
00:07:08.440 --> 00:07:11.800
\"Cases of torture
in the Basque Country:
00:07:11.960 --> 00:07:16.560
reality or just propaganda?\"
00:08:36.640 --> 00:08:38.920
Nice to meet you.
00:08:44.840 --> 00:08:46.560
I\'m going to show you
00:08:46.720 --> 00:08:50.360
several documents
that we\'re going to read through.
00:08:50.520 --> 00:08:51.840
I\'ll give you
00:08:52.000 --> 00:08:57.160
the form where it clearly explains
the whole process
00:08:57.320 --> 00:08:59.120
of this project.
00:09:01.400 --> 00:09:02.920
\"This investigation,
00:09:03.080 --> 00:09:05.520
the project of investigation
on torture,
00:09:05.640 --> 00:09:08.360
is conducted by
the Basque Institute of Criminology,
00:09:08.520 --> 00:09:12.280
Kriminologiaren Euskal Institutua,
UPB,
00:09:12.680 --> 00:09:17.440
at the request of the General
Secretary for Peace and Coexistence
00:09:17.600 --> 00:09:21.160
and led by
professor Francisco Etxeberria,
00:09:21.320 --> 00:09:24.920
specialised in legal medicine
and forensics.
00:09:25.080 --> 00:09:27.040
The project\'s general aim
00:09:27.200 --> 00:09:28.960
responds to initiative six
00:09:29.120 --> 00:09:33.360
of the Peace and Coexistence Plan
2013-2016,
00:09:33.520 --> 00:09:37.560
where it states the need
to carry out a scientific study
00:09:37.720 --> 00:09:42.560
that addresses the objective reality
of torture in our context.
00:09:43.360 --> 00:09:46.440
It should also allow us take the
necessary measures
00:09:46.600 --> 00:09:48.720
of recognition and reparation
00:09:48.880 --> 00:09:52.600
that are plausible in the light
of this study\'s conclusions.
00:09:52.760 --> 00:09:53.840
First phase.
00:09:54.000 --> 00:09:57.960
To provide a comprehensive approach
to the scale of the problem,
00:09:58.120 --> 00:10:01.400
a census will be made
of judicial or public complaints
00:10:01.560 --> 00:10:03.840
of torture in the period...
00:10:04.000 --> 00:10:07.800
between 1960 and 2013.
00:10:08.400 --> 00:10:12.720
Individuals who agree to it
will also be interviewed.\"
00:10:12.880 --> 00:10:13.960
Phase one.
00:10:14.120 --> 00:10:17.600
Just what I\'m going to be doing
with you.
00:10:17.760 --> 00:10:19.160
\"In a second phase,
00:10:19.320 --> 00:10:21.920
based on a random sample
of 200 cases,
00:10:22.080 --> 00:10:23.960
a study will be conducted
00:10:24.120 --> 00:10:27.640
on the credibility of the complaint
using the Istanbul Protocol.\"
00:10:27.800 --> 00:10:30.760
Psychologists and psychiatrists
will do this.
00:10:30.920 --> 00:10:32.040
Thirdly,
00:10:32.200 --> 00:10:37.320
on the basis of court documentation
contained in the court records,
00:10:37.520 --> 00:10:40.440
a statistical study will undertaken
00:10:40.600 --> 00:10:42.960
on torture methods in relation to
00:10:43.120 --> 00:10:46.360
demographic, procedural
and criminological variables.\"
00:10:46.520 --> 00:10:49.440
-Any questions? Is it clear?
-It\'s clear.
00:10:50.040 --> 00:10:53.240
Firstly, you\'ll make a sworn statement
00:10:53.400 --> 00:10:56.800
stating that you report
a case of torture
00:10:56.960 --> 00:10:59.560
and you are taking part
in this project.
00:10:59.720 --> 00:11:01.440
I need your signature here.
00:11:05.440 --> 00:11:07.000
Okay...
00:11:09.200 --> 00:11:10.520
Perfect.
00:11:25.800 --> 00:11:27.640
Okay, we\'re ready.
00:11:27.800 --> 00:11:29.200
Your place of birth?
00:11:29.360 --> 00:11:31.520
-San Sebastián.
-San Sebastián.
00:11:31.680 --> 00:11:32.800
Date of birth?
00:11:32.960 --> 00:11:36.600
27 October 1962.
00:11:37.440 --> 00:11:39.360
Where did they detain you?
00:11:39.520 --> 00:11:41.120
-Intxaurrondo.
-Police force?
00:11:41.280 --> 00:11:42.760
-Civil Guard.
-Civil Guard.
00:11:44.960 --> 00:11:47.960
-How many days...?
-Solitary for 72 hours.
00:11:48.120 --> 00:11:49.080
72 hours.
00:11:50.880 --> 00:11:53.640
-Did you report torture?
-No. Okay.
00:11:54.360 --> 00:11:58.520
Firstly,
I\'ll ask you to introduce yourself.
00:11:58.640 --> 00:12:01.320
Then I\'ll ask you more questions.
00:12:01.520 --> 00:12:03.240
So, let\'s start.
00:12:03.400 --> 00:12:04.680
-Introduce myself?
-Yes.
00:12:04.840 --> 00:12:07.840
I\'m Francisco Jiménez Rivera, \"Patxi\".
00:12:08.000 --> 00:12:10.320
I\'ve come to tell this story
00:12:11.080 --> 00:12:13.080
because I think
00:12:13.240 --> 00:12:16.800
I owe a debt to society
for not having reported it.
00:12:17.400 --> 00:12:20.360
I didn\'t do it
because I received death threats.
00:12:20.520 --> 00:12:22.280
Not just me,
00:12:22.440 --> 00:12:24.520
but members of my family too.
00:12:24.640 --> 00:12:26.040
So...
00:12:26.760 --> 00:12:30.360
it all happened quickly,
though it seemed to last forever.
00:12:30.520 --> 00:12:33.680
I was taken to a dormitory,
a light was shone in my face.
00:12:35.040 --> 00:12:39.360
There were about a dozen people
asking me questions.
00:12:40.120 --> 00:12:42.800
Did I go to demos?
Was I a member of ETA?
00:12:42.960 --> 00:12:44.560
Did I have hidden weapons?
00:12:44.720 --> 00:12:47.280
Every time I said no
they slapped me
00:12:47.440 --> 00:12:50.760
around the ears like this.
00:12:50.920 --> 00:12:52.520
Around the ears?
00:12:52.680 --> 00:12:54.880
I can\'t say how many times.
00:12:55.040 --> 00:12:58.520
There came a time
when I was so dazed
00:12:59.120 --> 00:13:01.960
that I didn\'t care what happened.
00:13:02.120 --> 00:13:04.040
It was a question, then a blow.
00:13:04.200 --> 00:13:07.000
They kicked you,
then took you to a corridor.
00:13:07.160 --> 00:13:09.280
You had to stand spread-eagled.
00:13:09.880 --> 00:13:13.000
They threatened to throw you
out the window,
00:13:13.160 --> 00:13:15.160
called you a fucking terrorist.
00:13:15.640 --> 00:13:17.760
One officer took me to the toilets
00:13:17.920 --> 00:13:21.840
and started to hit me in the stomach
with a metal bar.
00:13:22.440 --> 00:13:25.200
To break us psychologically,
they showed us
00:13:25.920 --> 00:13:28.160
policemen and soldiers
killed by ETA.
00:13:28.840 --> 00:13:31.840
Look at this guy,
this is what you did.
00:13:32.000 --> 00:13:34.680
They tried to break your spirit.
00:13:34.840 --> 00:13:38.240
You end up wanting to die
so you stop suffering.
00:13:39.040 --> 00:13:41.120
I don\'t know how to put it.
00:13:43.160 --> 00:13:45.400
It\'s such a stressful situation.
00:13:46.840 --> 00:13:51.000
There were lots of Civil Guards.
They were coming and going.
00:13:51.160 --> 00:13:53.640
Beatings...
It was pretty chaotic.
00:13:54.120 --> 00:13:56.680
\"Don\'t report it
or we\'ll come for you.\"
00:13:57.520 --> 00:14:00.280
That\'s the reason why I\'m here.
00:14:00.440 --> 00:14:03.520
It\'s late,
but it\'s important to report it.
00:14:04.720 --> 00:14:06.520
Was there a doctor?
00:14:07.280 --> 00:14:09.280
I don\'t really remember.
00:14:11.440 --> 00:14:12.640
Were you blindfolded?
00:14:14.320 --> 00:14:16.000
-No.
-Were your hands tied?
00:14:16.160 --> 00:14:17.320
Yes, I was cuffed.
00:14:17.520 --> 00:14:19.760
-Did the cuffs leave a mark?
-No.
00:14:19.920 --> 00:14:21.240
-A strange smell?
-No.
00:14:21.400 --> 00:14:23.080
-Sitting down?
-And tied up.
00:14:23.240 --> 00:14:26.560
Do your remember the room
where you were interrogated?
00:14:26.720 --> 00:14:27.920
Did you fall on the floor?
00:14:28.560 --> 00:14:30.440
Did they strip you naked?
00:14:31.040 --> 00:14:32.440
Did you every faint?
00:14:32.600 --> 00:14:35.360
Did you wear the same clothes
for three days?
00:16:10.040 --> 00:16:13.680
Itziar\'s son doesn\'t betray
his colleagues
00:16:13.840 --> 00:16:15.600
and when faced with the pigs,
00:16:15.760 --> 00:16:18.920
he remains staunch and silent...
00:16:21.920 --> 00:16:25.760
What a lad Itziar\'s son,
00:16:25.920 --> 00:16:29.760
he\'d rather die than betray anyone!
00:16:30.400 --> 00:16:33.680
Young Maji can feel so proud of him,
00:16:33.840 --> 00:16:37.880
and when he leaves jail
she\'ll go and look for him
00:16:38.040 --> 00:16:42.360
Young Maji, what a great lad you have,
00:16:42.520 --> 00:16:46.320
he\'d rather die than betray anyone
00:16:47.360 --> 00:16:51.360
Son, how did you end up
looking like that?
00:16:51.520 --> 00:16:55.800
Mother, they beat me so I\'d talk.
00:16:56.320 --> 00:16:59.920
Olatz told me that they already
interviewed you.
00:17:00.080 --> 00:17:01.920
-Yes.
-How was it?
00:17:02.080 --> 00:17:07.280
Fine. She asked me very
straightforward questions
00:17:07.440 --> 00:17:09.960
and I said what I had to.
00:17:10.520 --> 00:17:11.840
Were you nervous?
00:17:12.000 --> 00:17:16.520
Not at all.
The interview was nice and relaxed.
00:17:17.760 --> 00:17:21.240
-Okay, one thing less, right?
-Yes.
00:17:21.400 --> 00:17:24.080
Let\'s see if we get the report.
00:17:28.040 --> 00:17:32.160
Young Maji, what a great lad you have,
00:17:32.320 --> 00:17:36.240
he\'d rather die than betray anyone.
00:17:41.800 --> 00:17:45.520
They slammed me against a wall
and hit my head on it.
00:17:46.160 --> 00:17:49.040
I saw something sort of red
on the wall.
00:17:50.120 --> 00:17:53.680
Maybe they told me
or I guessed it was someone\'s blood.
00:17:53.840 --> 00:17:55.640
It was dry blood.
00:17:56.400 --> 00:17:57.640
And I said to myself:
00:17:57.800 --> 00:18:00.640
\"This is where they beat us
and someone bled.\"
00:18:00.800 --> 00:18:02.280
I think so.
00:18:03.240 --> 00:18:05.080
And then...
00:18:07.880 --> 00:18:09.720
With the bag over your head?
00:18:09.880 --> 00:18:13.440
No.
Because I saw the blood on the wall.
00:18:14.200 --> 00:18:17.520
I was sitting in a chair
with a bag over my head.
00:18:17.640 --> 00:18:19.240
They hit me on the head.
00:18:19.400 --> 00:18:23.320
Maybe they used their hands,
a book or something else.
00:18:25.840 --> 00:18:29.200
And different voices,
coming from all directions.
00:18:30.000 --> 00:18:33.280
People were coming and going,
doors were slammed.
00:18:33.440 --> 00:18:38.200
\"Jesus Christ, I\'ve lost my patience
with you! I\'ll kill you!\"
00:18:38.360 --> 00:18:42.880
Then someone with a gentler voice:
\"Don\'t make the inspector angry...\"
00:18:43.040 --> 00:18:46.200
There was one guy they called
\"the inspector\", I think.
00:18:48.400 --> 00:18:51.680
\"He\'s losing his patience
and if he does...
00:18:51.840 --> 00:18:53.720
Please listen to reason...\"
00:18:57.200 --> 00:19:00.080
\"It\'s to your advantage,
just tell us things.\"
00:19:01.240 --> 00:19:05.040
\"If you talk,
you can leave right now.\"
00:19:07.960 --> 00:19:09.880
But to be honest...
00:19:11.880 --> 00:19:13.960
I have a lot of lapses of memory.
00:19:18.760 --> 00:19:21.640
I definitely heard screams...
00:19:24.560 --> 00:19:26.200
of people in pain.
00:19:27.520 --> 00:19:29.440
I heard my sister too.
00:19:29.600 --> 00:19:32.120
In the cell or the interrogation room?
00:19:32.280 --> 00:19:36.560
In a room next door
while I was in the interrogation room.
00:19:36.720 --> 00:19:37.720
Okay.
00:19:37.880 --> 00:19:39.520
I heard those screams.
00:19:39.640 --> 00:19:43.720
At one point
you heard your sister screaming.
00:19:44.680 --> 00:19:47.200
Can you remember what she said?
00:19:47.880 --> 00:19:50.520
No, it just sounded like this...
00:19:53.920 --> 00:19:55.760
How did it make you feel?
00:19:56.400 --> 00:19:58.040
I was...
00:20:00.560 --> 00:20:03.040
Like I was made of stone.
00:20:03.640 --> 00:20:07.280
I actually thought
it wasn\'t even my sister.
00:20:09.880 --> 00:20:12.280
Perhaps it was a recording.
00:20:12.440 --> 00:20:14.120
What I mean is...
00:20:15.280 --> 00:20:19.320
Everything that is happening
is just an act
00:20:19.920 --> 00:20:22.240
to make me confess
00:20:22.800 --> 00:20:24.520
and talk.
00:20:26.200 --> 00:20:30.400
But there was a moment of desperation,
I couldn\'t take anymore.
00:20:31.280 --> 00:20:33.280
When did you feel like that?
00:20:38.040 --> 00:20:39.960
In one of the interrogations.
00:20:40.720 --> 00:20:43.800
In one of the interrogations
they said
00:20:45.520 --> 00:20:47.160
they wanted to see my nipples
00:20:47.320 --> 00:20:50.120
so they could apply electrodes
to them.
00:20:50.560 --> 00:20:52.920
I was wearing
00:20:53.840 --> 00:20:55.960
a denim shirt with snap fasteners
00:20:56.120 --> 00:20:58.520
that they just ripped it open.
00:21:01.200 --> 00:21:03.760
I don\'t remember if they touched me.
00:21:05.240 --> 00:21:06.920
I don\'t remember.
00:21:12.160 --> 00:21:14.520
They said stuff like:
00:21:14.680 --> 00:21:16.880
\"Nice tits, nice body,
00:21:17.360 --> 00:21:19.600
we\'re feeling randy.
00:21:19.760 --> 00:21:24.000
If you screw ETA guys
you won\'t mind screwing policemen.\"
00:21:24.840 --> 00:21:27.160
-That was when you felt it?
-Yes.
00:22:23.960 --> 00:22:25.400
Please go in.
00:22:26.040 --> 00:22:29.360
The aim of this Istanbul Protocol
interview
00:22:30.120 --> 00:22:34.080
is not for people who allege
torture and ill-treatment
00:22:35.200 --> 00:22:38.400
to give an account
like you have up to now.
00:22:39.040 --> 00:22:41.000
I\'ll explain why.
00:22:41.160 --> 00:22:43.720
This is not
a straightforward account.
00:22:43.880 --> 00:22:46.840
It is about relating to the moment,
00:22:47.000 --> 00:22:49.200
the feelings and the experiences.
00:22:49.680 --> 00:22:53.520
In some ways,
this is the core of the interview.
00:22:53.640 --> 00:22:57.040
Not just the written account
or the complaints,
00:22:57.200 --> 00:22:59.240
which I\'ve already read.
00:22:59.400 --> 00:23:01.880
Instead, we have to analyse
00:23:02.040 --> 00:23:06.040
the veracity of the events
you describe.
00:23:06.200 --> 00:23:10.240
That is one of the aims
of the Istanbul Protocol.
00:23:10.400 --> 00:23:12.280
Also, to see and analyse
00:23:12.440 --> 00:23:13.880
how you feel,
00:23:14.040 --> 00:23:16.920
the situations you experienced,
00:23:17.080 --> 00:23:20.760
and determine what your emotional
and psychological state is.
00:23:25.800 --> 00:23:28.680
Humiliating me,
making me strip off...
00:23:29.120 --> 00:23:33.680
Then they start the rape ritual.
00:23:39.120 --> 00:23:43.640
They told me
that they were going to rape me.
00:23:43.800 --> 00:23:48.240
I\'m on the floor,
they pin me down, open my legs.
00:23:48.400 --> 00:23:50.520
-You\'re naked?
-Yes.
00:23:52.080 --> 00:23:56.680
Then they began touching my crotch
00:23:56.840 --> 00:23:59.680
while saying:
\"Would you look at that!\"
00:23:59.840 --> 00:24:04.600
\"She\'s all wet, she\'s gonna enjoy it!\"
00:24:07.720 --> 00:24:09.920
And filthy stuff like that.
00:24:14.120 --> 00:24:18.640
They placed the gun in my vagina
00:24:18.800 --> 00:24:21.680
and began pulling the trigger.
00:24:21.840 --> 00:24:27.760
It was a gun with blanks,
I don\'t know anything about weapons.
00:24:30.680 --> 00:24:34.440
-And if you go back to that situation?
-Sorry?
00:24:36.040 --> 00:24:41.200
If you recall that situation now,
what do you feel?
00:24:44.560 --> 00:24:49.360
I don\'t know what to say.
I was holding back all the time.
00:24:52.720 --> 00:24:55.520
I hardly even felt the beatings.
00:24:59.880 --> 00:25:02.040
My thought at the time was:
00:25:02.200 --> 00:25:05.200
to get out of here,
you must play a role.
00:25:05.360 --> 00:25:08.680
You have to stick to your role.
00:25:08.840 --> 00:25:12.200
I didn\'t even tell them my name
to begin with.
00:25:12.360 --> 00:25:14.920
I eventually told them,
00:25:15.080 --> 00:25:19.040
but I replied \"No, no, no\"
to all their questions.
00:25:19.200 --> 00:25:20.560
In the end I thought:
00:25:21.360 --> 00:25:23.320
they\'ve beaten me black and blue,
00:25:23.520 --> 00:25:27.520
your partner has already squealed
about this and that...
00:25:27.680 --> 00:25:30.640
That\'s the reason
for this cross-examination.
00:25:33.800 --> 00:25:37.200
But I was always waiting
00:25:37.360 --> 00:25:40.080
for the worst to come...
00:25:41.040 --> 00:25:43.360
and so I was holding back.
00:25:44.880 --> 00:25:48.520
Keeping my mind clear
was the hardest part for me.
00:25:51.000 --> 00:25:54.800
So in a situation like that...
On the floor...
00:26:52.640 --> 00:26:54.920
Shall I serve breakfast now?
00:26:57.440 --> 00:27:01.640
It\'ll do us good to have breakfast
before the meeting.
00:27:02.640 --> 00:27:05.880
Well, it\'s great
to get together again.
00:27:06.960 --> 00:27:09.840
We were discussing the database,
00:27:10.000 --> 00:27:12.040
the study about women and torture.
00:27:12.200 --> 00:27:15.920
The idea would be to make use
of the two combined databases
00:27:16.080 --> 00:27:18.840
to analyse female-specific data.
00:27:19.000 --> 00:27:21.880
In Navarre, for example,
we have several cases
00:27:22.040 --> 00:27:25.320
that are assessed,
but not in any of the studies.
00:27:25.520 --> 00:27:28.320
We could add it as well
00:27:28.960 --> 00:27:33.240
to include it in the database,
but it would need organising.
00:27:33.400 --> 00:27:37.920
Remember that we also have a lot
of Istanbul Protocols
00:27:38.080 --> 00:27:39.920
already carried out.
00:27:40.080 --> 00:27:43.520
So perhaps we could also
divide up that work,
00:27:43.640 --> 00:27:47.720
because many of the protocols
and interviews are transcribed.
00:27:47.880 --> 00:27:51.320
We could start looking at variables.
00:27:51.520 --> 00:27:55.200
We need to standardise
the database.
00:27:55.360 --> 00:27:57.800
How about in two weeks?
00:27:58.920 --> 00:28:00.920
I also think it\'s interesting
00:28:01.080 --> 00:28:03.160
to address how different it is
00:28:03.320 --> 00:28:06.400
for women who were tortured in the 70s
00:28:06.560 --> 00:28:09.360
or the ones tortured in 2000.
00:28:10.120 --> 00:28:13.400
Molestation is an aspect
that crops up a lot, right?
00:28:14.000 --> 00:28:16.160
A strategy to break them.
00:28:16.320 --> 00:28:19.960
The threat of rape is more likely
to be believed by a woman.
00:28:20.120 --> 00:28:22.800
Although a man is threatened
with rape,
00:28:22.960 --> 00:28:25.160
it\'s probably less credible.
00:28:25.320 --> 00:28:29.040
-It\'s also used against men.
-But less so.
00:28:29.640 --> 00:28:32.840
When they found out
they were homosexuals it was...
00:28:33.520 --> 00:28:34.960
just as bad or worse
00:28:35.120 --> 00:28:37.760
in some cases than for women.
00:28:37.920 --> 00:28:41.280
Because it\'s a sexist construct
and the mindset too.
00:28:41.440 --> 00:28:43.760
It\'s there and it\'s quite visible.
00:28:44.440 --> 00:28:47.520
Give a higher profile
00:28:47.680 --> 00:28:51.440
to LGTB individuals.
It\'s discussed but not highlighted.
00:28:51.600 --> 00:28:54.000
We don\'t address it specifically.
00:28:54.160 --> 00:28:57.000
So we could start to look at how
00:28:57.640 --> 00:29:00.960
we can engage with these areas
as a team...
00:29:12.640 --> 00:29:14.240
All right...
00:29:14.400 --> 00:29:16.360
-How about lunch?
-Yes, please.
00:29:25.800 --> 00:29:28.520
I\'d like us to use
this after-dinner chat
00:29:28.640 --> 00:29:33.240
and talk about how you got here
and to highlight your journey.
00:29:33.400 --> 00:29:37.360
Yes, I can put it into context
with a small example.
00:29:37.960 --> 00:29:41.080
This is one of the prehistoric...
00:29:42.600 --> 00:29:45.680
devices that was used.
00:29:47.000 --> 00:29:49.920
These are some of the publications
00:29:50.680 --> 00:29:52.680
this team was involved in
00:29:52.840 --> 00:29:56.720
over the last 30 years
00:29:56.880 --> 00:29:58.440
on the subject of torture,
00:29:58.600 --> 00:30:03.320
human rights,
and the rights of those in prison.
00:30:05.400 --> 00:30:09.280
I\'d always worked
with doctors, coroners.
00:30:09.440 --> 00:30:12.640
We began to hear about
the Istanbul Protocol.
00:30:12.800 --> 00:30:16.640
Nowadays people know it,
but we\'re talking about
00:30:16.800 --> 00:30:18.560
when I met Olatz.
00:30:18.720 --> 00:30:22.400
-Maybe before 1990?
-We met in 1990.
00:30:23.320 --> 00:30:27.880
What we had there
was an area we couldn\'t cover.
00:30:28.040 --> 00:30:30.400
The psychological damage
caused by torture.
00:30:31.040 --> 00:30:33.520
Training came about...
00:30:34.160 --> 00:30:38.120
as a result of the work
Benito and Olatz mentioned.
00:30:38.280 --> 00:30:40.720
The idea was to join together
00:30:41.680 --> 00:30:43.600
coroners and psychologists.
00:30:43.760 --> 00:30:47.120
The tool that made it possible
was the Istanbul Protocol.
00:30:47.280 --> 00:30:50.640
As Benito said, initially the idea
00:30:50.800 --> 00:30:55.360
was to see how to introduce
the psychological aspect.
00:30:55.520 --> 00:30:58.000
It grew from there
and eventually we said:
00:30:58.160 --> 00:31:00.520
we need specific training.
00:31:00.680 --> 00:31:03.720
That training was carried out
00:31:03.880 --> 00:31:08.680
with the support
of grassroots movements from Saragossa
00:31:08.840 --> 00:31:11.240
who feared the extreme right.
00:31:11.720 --> 00:31:15.840
And when we had to train
30-something people,
00:31:16.000 --> 00:31:17.960
it was carried out
00:31:18.120 --> 00:31:21.920
in the Ateneo building,
not a squat anymore,
00:31:22.080 --> 00:31:27.280
with plainclothes police
watching the two sessions.
00:31:27.440 --> 00:31:28.960
Did you feel harassed?
00:31:29.120 --> 00:31:31.720
They were in plain clothes,
but it was obvious.
00:31:31.880 --> 00:31:33.800
And they didn\'t hide it.
00:31:33.960 --> 00:31:37.280
It\'s part of the dynamic of torture:
00:31:37.440 --> 00:31:40.840
reporting it, investigating it
caring for its victims.
00:31:41.440 --> 00:31:44.160
Being watched over, that unease...
00:31:44.680 --> 00:31:48.520
Traumatic experiences
were going to be discussed.
00:31:48.640 --> 00:31:50.240
How many would be present?
00:31:50.400 --> 00:31:53.000
How many professionals were involved?
00:31:53.160 --> 00:31:55.600
Putting names to the faces.
00:31:58.720 --> 00:32:00.520
These are press clippings.
00:32:01.800 --> 00:32:04.280
-When you submitted the report.
-In Madrid.
00:32:04.880 --> 00:32:06.920
You were going to submit
00:32:07.080 --> 00:32:10.200
the report on
incommunicado detention and torture.
00:32:10.360 --> 00:32:15.080
-Why is this report so important?
-Madrid bar association.
00:32:15.880 --> 00:32:19.120
We made sure
the Istanbul Protocol interviews
00:32:19.280 --> 00:32:23.360
were well conducted and we knew
what the protocol entailed.
00:32:23.960 --> 00:32:26.960
Our work was carried out
painstakingly.
00:32:27.120 --> 00:32:29.000
Everything we write
00:32:29.160 --> 00:32:31.760
must be based on the findings
00:32:31.920 --> 00:32:34.960
we see as psychologists.
Everything.
00:32:35.840 --> 00:32:39.040
This is why three UN rapporteurs said
00:32:39.200 --> 00:32:40.800
the report was flawless.
00:32:40.960 --> 00:32:45.320
When the report came
from the Basque Government
00:32:45.520 --> 00:32:48.200
requesting 200 Istanbul Protocols,
00:32:48.360 --> 00:32:51.560
that was why we said
we would do the work,
00:32:51.720 --> 00:32:54.120
but using this method.
00:32:54.720 --> 00:32:58.840
Did you ever have any case
where you used the protocol
00:32:59.000 --> 00:33:01.040
and thought \"this one isn\'t...\"?
00:33:01.200 --> 00:33:03.080
That it wasn\'t torture?
00:33:03.240 --> 00:33:05.240
Yes, there have been cases.
00:33:05.400 --> 00:33:09.000
How about cases where you felt
the person was lying?
00:33:09.600 --> 00:33:11.120
-No.
-No.
00:33:11.280 --> 00:33:13.600
So if you approve the case
00:33:13.760 --> 00:33:16.000
it means there is no doubt?
00:33:16.160 --> 00:33:17.520
That\'s right.
00:33:18.120 --> 00:33:19.520
For many people
00:33:19.640 --> 00:33:22.600
talking about it is so traumatic
00:33:22.760 --> 00:33:27.280
that when they decide
to describe events,
00:33:28.280 --> 00:33:31.680
they probably fear reliving
that pain and suffering.
00:33:31.840 --> 00:33:33.880
Many of them can\'t bear it.
00:33:34.040 --> 00:33:37.520
There are those who believe
they weren\'t tortured, right?
00:33:37.680 --> 00:33:41.800
Yes, there are quite a few
of those cases.
00:33:49.720 --> 00:33:52.120
With the court\'s permission,
00:33:52.280 --> 00:33:54.200
I would ask you, Ms. Barrenetxea,
00:33:54.360 --> 00:33:57.960
to turn around and look
at the people behind you.
00:33:58.120 --> 00:34:01.240
Take all the time you need
00:34:01.400 --> 00:34:04.120
and tell us if you recognise
any of them
00:34:04.280 --> 00:34:08.720
as being involved in
some of the incidents
00:34:08.880 --> 00:34:11.520
that you described to us,
or it they were present
00:34:11.640 --> 00:34:15.680
when any of these incidents
took place.
00:34:15.840 --> 00:34:18.920
In that case, tell us who it is
and what they did.
00:34:23.160 --> 00:34:25.200
He\'s the one who...
00:34:25.360 --> 00:34:26.920
He\'s the one...
00:34:27.080 --> 00:34:30.520
who put me on the table
00:34:30.680 --> 00:34:33.560
and then stood in front of me
00:34:33.720 --> 00:34:35.760
wearing a mask.
00:34:36.120 --> 00:34:37.680
I know it\'s him
00:34:37.840 --> 00:34:40.280
because he was in front of me.
00:34:40.440 --> 00:34:42.000
And I saw him.
00:34:43.040 --> 00:34:45.360
The other one was in the car.
00:34:46.920 --> 00:34:48.560
Jesus Christ...
00:34:50.680 --> 00:34:52.640
And the guy on the end...
00:34:54.280 --> 00:34:58.320
he was the one who took my statement.
00:34:58.800 --> 00:35:00.680
His hair was different,
00:35:00.840 --> 00:35:04.120
but I\'m certain he was the one
who took my statement.
00:35:05.640 --> 00:35:10.040
You don\'t recognise the third person?
00:35:10.200 --> 00:35:12.000
You\'ve never seen him before?
00:35:12.160 --> 00:35:15.920
The third on your left.
00:35:19.080 --> 00:35:20.520
No.
00:35:23.360 --> 00:35:26.520
And one more point...
00:35:42.520 --> 00:35:46.080
Oh my God... Jesus Christ...
00:35:46.880 --> 00:35:48.320
Please, madam.
00:35:48.520 --> 00:35:52.000
I realise that you\'re very nervous,
00:35:52.160 --> 00:35:54.120
we\'re letting you take your time,
00:35:54.280 --> 00:35:59.160
but I would ask you not to swear.
All right?
00:36:03.720 --> 00:36:05.920
This is a reason
00:36:06.080 --> 00:36:08.360
why people don\'t report it.
00:36:09.560 --> 00:36:11.600
If I go to court,
00:36:12.200 --> 00:36:15.560
I\'m surrounded by those
who tortured me
00:36:16.560 --> 00:36:19.520
and the judge makes
that type of remark,
00:36:19.680 --> 00:36:22.760
it makes me feel like a victim again.
00:36:24.600 --> 00:36:26.240
I was at that trial.
00:36:26.400 --> 00:36:28.720
I think she was very brave.
00:36:28.880 --> 00:36:31.440
She showed her pain and suffering.
00:36:32.120 --> 00:36:36.800
We were at the entrance with others
who were there to support
00:36:36.960 --> 00:36:40.040
and protect her
so it wouldn\'t all be police.
00:36:40.200 --> 00:36:42.760
It was like a wartime scenario.
00:36:42.920 --> 00:36:44.960
It was a bit like...
00:36:45.120 --> 00:36:48.040
How many are there to protect her,
00:36:48.200 --> 00:36:51.200
how many are there to intimidate her?
00:36:52.120 --> 00:36:56.120
Could a comparison be made
between developments
00:36:56.280 --> 00:36:58.360
in the area of gender violence
00:36:58.520 --> 00:37:00.320
and in torture?
00:37:00.520 --> 00:37:02.280
Today it\'s inconceivable
00:37:02.440 --> 00:37:07.080
to place a group of rapists in front
of a victim who has to testify.
00:37:07.840 --> 00:37:09.160
But the thing is,
00:37:09.320 --> 00:37:11.320
it\'s assumed that
00:37:11.520 --> 00:37:14.320
all victims must be protected.
00:37:15.040 --> 00:37:18.040
If you have a scenario
00:37:18.560 --> 00:37:21.840
where 50% of those present,
00:37:22.000 --> 00:37:24.720
let\'s say 60-70, are Civil Guards,
00:37:25.920 --> 00:37:28.600
you say they\'re friends
of the accused.
00:37:28.760 --> 00:37:30.560
No, they\'re Civil Guards.
00:37:30.720 --> 00:37:33.760
That is completely illegal
00:37:33.920 --> 00:37:37.520
and goes against
protecting a victim.
00:37:37.680 --> 00:37:41.920
I do think
that when it comes to torture,
00:37:42.080 --> 00:37:44.640
unlike rape,
00:37:44.800 --> 00:37:46.840
it\'s the State being judged.
00:37:47.000 --> 00:37:49.400
A rapist is accused by an individual.
00:37:49.560 --> 00:37:53.120
For that reason,
I think it\'s a lot more complicated
00:37:53.720 --> 00:37:56.840
to judge cases of torture.
00:37:57.000 --> 00:37:58.600
I compare it to
00:37:58.760 --> 00:38:03.040
children who have been sexually abused
by priests.
00:38:03.200 --> 00:38:04.880
Torture is similar.
00:38:05.040 --> 00:38:08.040
I don\'t want to believe,
I can\'t believe,
00:38:08.200 --> 00:38:11.520
that someone who is supposedly
there to protect me
00:38:11.680 --> 00:38:13.040
could hurt me.
00:38:13.680 --> 00:38:17.880
Torture is not just a method,
it\'s a strategy.
00:38:18.040 --> 00:38:20.560
It\'s not just a fact,
00:38:20.720 --> 00:38:23.000
something that is done to someone.
00:38:23.160 --> 00:38:25.800
There is a purpose behind it.
00:38:25.960 --> 00:38:30.400
And that strategy, that purpose,
was to break our social fabric.
00:38:30.560 --> 00:38:33.040
We can see that as a result.
00:38:33.200 --> 00:38:35.120
The way it divides us:
00:38:35.280 --> 00:38:39.720
to believe or not to believe.
Did they say it or did we?
00:38:39.880 --> 00:38:42.280
It polarises society.
00:38:42.440 --> 00:38:44.840
They don\'t want us to join forces,
00:38:45.000 --> 00:38:47.000
rebuild the social fabric,
00:38:47.160 --> 00:38:50.800
and unite in confronting
that strategy.
00:39:12.680 --> 00:39:13.840
Ready.
00:39:14.760 --> 00:39:18.240
I don\'t remember it very clearly,
but I know that...
00:39:18.760 --> 00:39:21.960
The situation was very tough for me.
00:39:23.640 --> 00:39:25.280
I don\'t know...
00:39:26.200 --> 00:39:29.360
You feel sort of detached...
I don\'t know how to put it.
00:39:30.320 --> 00:39:34.160
You\'re there, you feel afraid and...
00:39:36.000 --> 00:39:37.280
But...
00:39:37.680 --> 00:39:41.560
it\'s all so chaotic, so crazy,
00:39:41.720 --> 00:39:45.360
that it doesn\'t feel real either.
00:39:46.240 --> 00:39:49.120
It\'s like you\'re on the outside
looking in,
00:39:49.280 --> 00:39:52.240
but you feel that you\'re still
in the situation.
00:39:52.400 --> 00:39:54.280
It\'s a weird feeling.
00:39:56.120 --> 00:39:57.280
All right.
00:39:57.440 --> 00:40:01.200
Why would we say
this is a true account?
00:40:02.040 --> 00:40:06.120
Because when the person
is talking about it,
00:40:06.600 --> 00:40:09.920
she isn\'t even looking
at the clinician.
00:40:11.880 --> 00:40:15.160
Watch her movements.
00:40:16.720 --> 00:40:20.880
She\'s looking,
but the movie is playing in her head.
00:40:21.040 --> 00:40:23.400
She\'s at the police station.
00:40:26.680 --> 00:40:30.760
Okay, the journey:
you were handcuffed.
00:40:31.800 --> 00:40:35.320
Blindfolded and looking down.
00:40:36.640 --> 00:40:41.920
The journey made me anxious
because I kept hearing...
00:40:42.080 --> 00:40:47.880
They were laughing and saying:
\"We\'re gonna crash!\"
00:40:48.040 --> 00:40:49.920
The car was going very fast.
00:40:50.800 --> 00:40:56.120
We were speeding and they said:
\"We\'re gonna crash!\"
00:40:57.760 --> 00:41:03.120
-Were you afraid?
-Yes, but I felt frozen inside.
00:41:03.280 --> 00:41:05.280
I don\'t know how to explain it.
00:41:05.440 --> 00:41:09.600
I felt sort of numb, frozen. And...
00:41:11.000 --> 00:41:15.160
They started
touching my breasts again.
00:41:16.880 --> 00:41:21.680
At one point, I thought:
great, let them do that to me.
00:41:21.840 --> 00:41:26.160
I thought I was in control of that,
it didn\'t hurt.
00:41:26.320 --> 00:41:30.400
I was afraid of physical pain.
00:41:30.560 --> 00:41:32.560
-Physical pain?
-Yes.
00:41:32.720 --> 00:41:38.120
And they kept asking me questions.
I was looking down all the time.
00:41:38.280 --> 00:41:43.680
And at one point, they put a gun
to the back of my head
00:41:44.200 --> 00:41:49.240
and began pulling the trigger.
They were laughing and firing and...
00:41:49.400 --> 00:41:51.720
-Aizeti.
-Right...
00:41:59.920 --> 00:42:02.160
What do you feel...?
00:42:03.760 --> 00:42:08.120
I don\'t know what to say.
It\'s like I told you:
00:42:08.280 --> 00:42:10.840
I felt as cold as ice at the station.
00:42:11.000 --> 00:42:16.400
Like I was numb inside,
I didn\'t feel anything, not even pain.
00:42:17.800 --> 00:42:23.120
Perhaps it was a defence mechanism,
00:42:23.280 --> 00:42:29.000
but I remember feeling that way
for five days.
00:42:29.880 --> 00:42:33.400
All right,
we\'ll delve into that later,
00:42:33.560 --> 00:42:35.760
but let\'s go back to the car
00:42:35.920 --> 00:42:39.160
when they put the gun to your head
00:42:39.320 --> 00:42:42.360
and repeatedly pull the trigger.
00:42:44.760 --> 00:42:47.920
Bearing in mind the moment
you find yourself in
00:42:48.080 --> 00:42:51.640
and the context,
do you remember thinking,
00:42:51.800 --> 00:42:57.000
even in a rational way:
\"They\'re going to kill me...\"?
00:42:57.760 --> 00:43:00.800
Thinking of it as a logical outcome.
00:43:00.960 --> 00:43:02.200
Thinking what?
00:43:02.360 --> 00:43:05.160
-They\'re going to kill me.
-Yes, I did.
00:43:07.160 --> 00:43:08.920
This sequence is important.
00:43:09.520 --> 00:43:12.000
Not just the account, obviously,
00:43:12.160 --> 00:43:15.320
but how she starts to tell it.
00:43:17.080 --> 00:43:19.840
Her style is completely...
00:43:20.960 --> 00:43:23.840
rational, unemotional.
00:43:24.560 --> 00:43:27.160
She\'s not even looking at me.
00:43:28.280 --> 00:43:31.200
She\'s focusing on that sequence but...
00:43:31.840 --> 00:43:35.040
she\'s only seeing it from the outside.
00:43:36.160 --> 00:43:38.600
I say her name so she looks at me
00:43:39.800 --> 00:43:43.840
and connects with reality.
00:43:44.520 --> 00:43:46.880
That is when she suddenly
00:43:47.040 --> 00:43:51.080
giggles a little bit at the beginning.
00:43:51.960 --> 00:43:55.080
Then the feelings flood out
and she starts crying.
00:43:55.240 --> 00:43:56.760
If I let her
00:43:57.520 --> 00:44:00.600
give this account just the way
she began it,
00:44:01.160 --> 00:44:03.640
she would be describing a sequence
00:44:03.800 --> 00:44:07.520
filled with vulnerability,
defencelessness and panic,
00:44:08.280 --> 00:44:10.760
but I don\'t detect any feelings.
00:44:11.720 --> 00:44:14.720
If we just select that sequence
00:44:14.880 --> 00:44:17.680
without showing the whole interview,
00:44:17.840 --> 00:44:21.440
you\'d say she was making it up,
00:44:21.600 --> 00:44:22.920
it can\'t be true.
00:44:25.400 --> 00:44:29.040
Bam! They push me against the wall,
grab hold of me.
00:44:29.200 --> 00:44:31.920
They take the chair leg
00:44:32.080 --> 00:44:35.520
and try ramming it up my arse.
00:44:36.680 --> 00:44:40.160
They start arguing.
One says: \"No! What are you doing?\"
00:44:40.320 --> 00:44:43.600
\"Let me, I\'m gonna kill this fucker!\"
00:44:43.760 --> 00:44:46.520
And of course,
00:44:46.640 --> 00:44:50.320
in a very short space of time
00:44:50.520 --> 00:44:52.760
it was two really violent things.
00:44:52.920 --> 00:44:54.600
They tried to stick...
00:44:54.760 --> 00:44:57.240
I didn\'t know
if they\'d take down my pants...
00:44:57.400 --> 00:44:59.400
but I could feel
00:44:59.560 --> 00:45:02.120
the chair leg down there.
00:45:04.360 --> 00:45:07.120
It was the same thought:
00:45:07.280 --> 00:45:10.400
these guys are out of control.
00:45:10.560 --> 00:45:14.640
They\'re losing it.
No one is controlling them.
00:45:14.800 --> 00:45:17.640
That\'s what you think,
but it was probably
00:45:17.800 --> 00:45:20.160
all arranged and planned.
00:45:20.320 --> 00:45:23.000
But at the time...
00:45:23.600 --> 00:45:26.600
you think, I either do what they want
00:45:26.760 --> 00:45:29.320
or I\'m not leaving here alive.
00:45:29.520 --> 00:45:31.560
I\'m going to be messed up.
00:45:33.280 --> 00:45:37.760
This is also an interesting case.
He was detained by the Basque Police.
00:45:37.920 --> 00:45:42.360
Part of what he says
is a scenario that we often see.
00:45:42.520 --> 00:45:45.640
A large part
of the emotional break point is about
00:45:45.800 --> 00:45:47.520
something he mentions.
00:45:47.640 --> 00:45:50.920
The feeling you eventually have
00:45:51.640 --> 00:45:53.160
that it won\'t end well.
00:45:53.760 --> 00:45:57.520
So, I prefer to sign or confess
00:45:57.680 --> 00:46:00.320
whatever is necessary
as long as this stops.
00:46:00.920 --> 00:46:04.560
If you noticed...
00:46:04.720 --> 00:46:07.160
as that anguish grows,
00:46:07.320 --> 00:46:08.840
he rolls up his sleeves,
00:46:09.000 --> 00:46:11.280
then rolls them down again.
00:46:12.040 --> 00:46:15.080
And the movements he makes
when talking about
00:46:15.240 --> 00:46:18.160
that threat of rape.
00:46:18.320 --> 00:46:22.800
He can feel the broken chair leg
00:46:23.440 --> 00:46:26.640
getting closer to his anus.
00:46:26.800 --> 00:46:28.400
He can feel it.
00:46:30.360 --> 00:46:33.320
And all the time he\'s wondering
00:46:33.520 --> 00:46:35.040
if they\'re going to do it.
00:46:35.640 --> 00:46:38.960
Those are the emotional break points.
00:48:18.080 --> 00:48:20.120
That\'s what I went through...
00:48:20.280 --> 00:48:22.960
I find that the hardest...
00:48:23.120 --> 00:48:25.240
-It\'s still with you.
-Even today.
00:48:25.400 --> 00:48:28.560
-You can tell from your face.
-It\'s there.
00:48:32.560 --> 00:48:34.280
In the end, I don\'t know...
00:48:35.800 --> 00:48:37.120
I don\'t know...
00:48:37.960 --> 00:48:40.160
what I\'m afraid of, you know?
00:48:41.040 --> 00:48:42.640
I knew
00:48:43.120 --> 00:48:45.400
that I\'d feel guilty about them.
00:48:46.880 --> 00:48:51.680
They could have made me confess,
but accusing the others...
00:48:54.000 --> 00:48:56.680
To a certain extent,
00:48:56.840 --> 00:49:00.520
I was forced to accuse the other four.
00:49:00.680 --> 00:49:03.360
-Rather than yourself?
-I don\'t get it.
00:49:03.520 --> 00:49:05.920
What do they get out of it?
00:49:06.440 --> 00:49:08.120
But that\'s what they did.
00:49:09.520 --> 00:49:13.000
Particularly when two of them were...
00:49:14.600 --> 00:49:17.360
-Especially important?
-Especially important.
00:49:17.520 --> 00:49:20.400
And only one of them
00:49:21.000 --> 00:49:24.880
went to detain him that same day.
The other one was detained
00:49:25.040 --> 00:49:26.560
later on.
00:49:28.880 --> 00:49:31.800
-The same day they detained you?
-One of them.
00:49:31.960 --> 00:49:34.720
-One was detained?
-Yes.
00:49:34.880 --> 00:49:37.880
When they detained the other one
my world collapsed.
00:49:38.040 --> 00:49:39.680
I was already inside.
00:49:39.840 --> 00:49:42.200
-You found out?
-It was tough for me.
00:49:43.280 --> 00:49:45.760
-Did you feel responsible?
-Yes.
00:49:45.920 --> 00:49:48.760
Saioa\'s grandmother.
You say, okay, I cracked.
00:49:48.920 --> 00:49:50.960
The theory is simple.
00:49:51.120 --> 00:49:53.720
The theory is simple.
It\'s easy to say:
00:49:53.880 --> 00:49:59.760
no, you\'re not responsible.
They forced you to say it.
00:49:59.920 --> 00:50:02.400
Something you didn\'t mean at all.
00:50:03.520 --> 00:50:05.280
Well, there you go.
00:50:05.440 --> 00:50:08.000
When you see him leaving.
00:50:09.080 --> 00:50:13.160
What\'s more, when you see
that the police that are taking her
00:50:13.760 --> 00:50:16.560
are the same ones that detained you.
00:50:23.600 --> 00:50:26.760
-Did you pack it yourself?
-Yes.
00:50:55.440 --> 00:50:57.560
TORTURE
00:51:00.800 --> 00:51:02.760
PSYCHOLOGICAL TORTURE
00:51:04.600 --> 00:51:09.720
SECTION 5
TECHNIQUES OF PSYCHOLOGICAL TORTURE
00:51:50.200 --> 00:51:54.120
I felt like I was vanishing
from the world.
00:51:54.760 --> 00:51:58.280
It was like they didn\'t want me
to know where I was.
00:52:02.200 --> 00:52:04.520
I didn\'t know where I was,
but I thought:
00:52:04.680 --> 00:52:07.160
Okay, Egoitz, you\'re in Tres Cantos.
00:52:07.960 --> 00:52:10.640
Now let\'s see what happens...
00:52:13.200 --> 00:52:16.520
There were a lot of people,
a lot of activity.
00:52:16.680 --> 00:52:20.840
I think they were all Civil Guards,
but there was hustle and bustle.
00:52:21.600 --> 00:52:24.920
There were a few corridors,
but I do remember the stairs...
00:52:25.080 --> 00:52:28.640
-You didn\'t see anything?
-No, I was blindfolded.
00:52:30.360 --> 00:52:32.920
But I remember going down the stairs.
00:52:33.080 --> 00:52:35.680
Then down again, and again.
00:52:36.360 --> 00:52:38.920
We might only have gone down
one floor.
00:52:39.680 --> 00:52:44.600
But I felt
I was going down into a hole.
00:52:45.080 --> 00:52:47.840
And all I could think was...
00:52:48.520 --> 00:52:51.760
God help me.
00:52:51.920 --> 00:52:54.120
That was the feeling I had.
00:52:55.800 --> 00:52:58.360
I don\'t know where we were going.
00:52:58.960 --> 00:53:02.800
They took me down several corridors
00:53:02.960 --> 00:53:06.520
and kept saying:
\"Duck down!\" They said it a lot.
00:53:06.640 --> 00:53:11.160
Maybe there was nothing and it was
just so you felt you were in a hole.
00:53:11.320 --> 00:53:14.960
Anyway, they\'d say that:
\"Duck down, mind the step...\"
00:53:15.120 --> 00:53:17.720
And I remember that
00:53:19.280 --> 00:53:22.880
the very first thing I noticed
before going into the cell,
00:53:24.360 --> 00:53:26.080
walking down the stairs
00:53:26.240 --> 00:53:28.160
and then on a flat surface,
00:53:28.320 --> 00:53:29.960
was a scream.
00:53:30.640 --> 00:53:32.200
It was like...
00:53:34.800 --> 00:53:36.680
someone who was drowning.
00:53:39.920 --> 00:53:41.640
I thought it was Erica.
00:53:41.800 --> 00:53:44.000
And it was that scream
00:53:44.720 --> 00:53:48.640
and the voice of a Civil Guard saying:
\"Fucking talk already!\"
00:53:48.800 --> 00:53:54.120
That was the first thing I heard
when I reached Madrid.
00:54:09.280 --> 00:54:11.160
Whenever you\'re ready.
00:54:12.240 --> 00:54:14.320
Time for the meeting.
00:54:14.520 --> 00:54:16.640
-Are you guys ready?
-In a minute.
00:54:16.800 --> 00:54:19.360
Okay, I\'ll set things up.
00:54:20.320 --> 00:54:23.200
-All good? Got the cases?
-Yes.
00:54:26.440 --> 00:54:28.800
Every day we start later.
00:54:29.600 --> 00:54:30.440
Yes.
00:54:30.600 --> 00:54:33.840
-No, it\'s my fault.
-That\'s why I laughed.
00:54:35.720 --> 00:54:37.440
No worries.
00:54:37.600 --> 00:54:41.000
Right now we\'re working on
support and training
00:54:41.160 --> 00:54:43.080
with teams
in Ukraine, Venezuela, Chile,
00:54:43.800 --> 00:54:44.960
Tunisia and Peru.
00:54:45.120 --> 00:54:48.960
Initially, we\'ve almost finished
with Peru.
00:54:49.800 --> 00:54:52.560
But I wanted to say
that what we\'re seeing
00:54:53.600 --> 00:54:56.800
is that the teams are requesting
00:54:56.960 --> 00:55:00.520
more support documenting
psychological torture.
00:55:01.040 --> 00:55:02.960
Our case
in the Inter-American Court.
00:55:03.120 --> 00:55:06.720
-Which one?
-Do you remember the Mexican guy...
00:55:06.880 --> 00:55:09.280
-The journalist.
-The journalist.
00:55:09.440 --> 00:55:11.600
The one with loads of reports?
00:55:11.760 --> 00:55:13.640
The UN has taken the case.
00:55:13.800 --> 00:55:18.320
Good news always helps.
00:55:18.520 --> 00:55:20.320
Any more news from...?
00:55:20.520 --> 00:55:22.520
Two asylum cases.
00:55:23.120 --> 00:55:25.440
One is from Mali.
00:55:25.600 --> 00:55:27.640
The other is from Guinea.
00:55:27.800 --> 00:55:30.640
We have to think ahead to autumn
00:55:30.800 --> 00:55:31.880
and the Chileans.
00:55:32.560 --> 00:55:36.520
We have police going into
Mapuche territory
00:55:36.680 --> 00:55:39.560
and carrying out group torture.
00:55:39.720 --> 00:55:41.280
We\'ve already had
00:55:41.440 --> 00:55:44.680
episodes where 300 police
have suddenly turned up...
00:55:52.040 --> 00:55:53.400
-Yes?
-Hello.
00:55:53.560 --> 00:55:55.840
Ah, how are you?
Come in.
00:55:56.440 --> 00:55:58.080
This is my office.
00:55:59.640 --> 00:56:02.760
The Civil Guard HQ is over there.
00:56:04.440 --> 00:56:06.200
Right next door.
00:56:06.360 --> 00:56:07.640
Over the road.
00:56:07.800 --> 00:56:11.360
When you said the interview
was here, I thought
00:56:11.520 --> 00:56:15.400
it would be ironic
to talk about torture next to the HQ.
00:56:16.000 --> 00:56:18.520
-Well, we\'re neighbours.
-You get on okay?
00:56:18.680 --> 00:56:22.080
We mind our own business.
00:56:24.640 --> 00:56:27.560
TORTURE CHAMBER
WAIT YOUR TURN
00:56:27.720 --> 00:56:30.840
Psychological torture occurs when
00:56:31.000 --> 00:56:33.960
I use different mechanisms
00:56:34.120 --> 00:56:37.920
to cause the physical, emotional,
00:56:38.080 --> 00:56:42.160
and cognitive exhaustion
of the person\'s thought process.
00:56:42.320 --> 00:56:44.760
This enables me to dominate
00:56:44.920 --> 00:56:46.440
that person\'s will.
00:56:46.600 --> 00:56:50.680
Thus I can make them do things
they normally wouldn\'t.
00:56:51.280 --> 00:56:55.920
You can achieve this by using pain
or many other techniques.
00:56:56.080 --> 00:56:58.960
So what we have here
00:56:59.640 --> 00:57:02.800
are three degrees or levels.
00:57:03.440 --> 00:57:06.760
The first would be the kind
of psychological torture
00:57:07.520 --> 00:57:11.840
where there are actually only words.
00:57:12.880 --> 00:57:14.440
Threats, for examples.
00:57:14.600 --> 00:57:16.720
When I threaten you,
00:57:16.880 --> 00:57:21.520
I\'m conveying a message,
communicating,
00:57:21.640 --> 00:57:25.280
what will happen
if you don\'t do what I want.
00:57:25.440 --> 00:57:27.320
The second level involves
00:57:27.520 --> 00:57:29.080
how I control your body
00:57:29.680 --> 00:57:30.840
without touching it.
00:57:31.000 --> 00:57:36.600
I can cause emotional fatigue,
cognitive exhaustion,
00:57:37.200 --> 00:57:40.840
which makes me more inclined
to do what you want.
00:57:41.000 --> 00:57:44.520
That means depriving you
of food, water,
00:57:44.680 --> 00:57:47.280
making you stand
for long periods.
00:57:48.040 --> 00:57:52.120
The third level would be
when I do inflict physical pain,
00:57:53.840 --> 00:57:58.120
but the psychological response
is out of proportion.
00:57:58.280 --> 00:58:02.040
A clear example is the use of bags
in the Basque Country
00:58:02.200 --> 00:58:05.440
or waterboarding in Guantánamo.
00:58:06.040 --> 00:58:08.200
From a physiological point of view,
00:58:08.360 --> 00:58:11.440
a person can stand
two minutes without breathing.
00:58:12.520 --> 00:58:14.440
But when a bag is over your head,
00:58:14.600 --> 00:58:17.920
within five seconds
you have the feeling
00:58:18.080 --> 00:58:19.320
you\'re going to die.
00:58:19.520 --> 00:58:21.320
There is a disparity
00:58:21.520 --> 00:58:23.360
between the subjective feeling
00:58:23.520 --> 00:58:26.160
of suffocating and being about to die,
00:58:26.320 --> 00:58:29.080
and what the body could withstand.
00:58:29.680 --> 00:58:31.720
So the question is:
00:58:31.880 --> 00:58:35.320
is it physical torture?
Yes, because you can\'t breath,
00:58:35.520 --> 00:58:39.360
but it\'s psychological
because the human mind\'s response
00:58:39.520 --> 00:58:43.240
is much greater
than the physical discomfort.
00:58:43.400 --> 00:58:45.000
So the reaction is:
00:58:45.160 --> 00:58:47.360
I\'m dying, I\'m dying.
00:58:47.520 --> 00:58:49.520
I\'ll do whatever you say.
00:58:51.320 --> 00:58:52.680
There is something
00:58:52.840 --> 00:58:55.760
that I find very hard
to wrap my head around.
00:58:56.840 --> 00:58:58.600
The mind of a torturer.
00:58:59.200 --> 00:59:02.200
Don\'t say \"torturer\",
say \"perpetrator\", okay?
00:59:02.360 --> 00:59:04.520
Let\'s imagine
00:59:04.640 --> 00:59:07.800
that in every act that is perpetrated
00:59:07.960 --> 00:59:09.440
there is a chain.
00:59:09.600 --> 00:59:14.520
So, the one inflicting torture
is the most involved.
00:59:14.680 --> 00:59:17.040
The one who is physically violent,
00:59:17.200 --> 00:59:19.560
who carries out the interrogation.
00:59:19.720 --> 00:59:21.360
He stands out most.
00:59:21.520 --> 00:59:25.440
But he takes his orders from
an intermediary.
00:59:25.600 --> 00:59:29.440
This is the one who plans it,
organises the detention.
00:59:29.600 --> 00:59:32.400
He does not usually appear very often
00:59:32.560 --> 00:59:35.440
where the torture
is being carried out.
00:59:35.600 --> 00:59:39.400
There is someone above him
who designs the overall strategy.
00:59:39.560 --> 00:59:42.600
This is the planner.
And at the top, the ideologist.
00:59:42.760 --> 00:59:44.560
The ideologist decides
00:59:44.720 --> 00:59:48.080
that the political aim
is to eradicate insurgency.
00:59:48.240 --> 00:59:51.800
He thinks it through calmly.
He\'s an intellectual, etc.
00:59:51.960 --> 00:59:54.640
Consequently, that chain
00:59:54.800 --> 00:59:58.000
enables the phenomenon
of moral disengagement.
00:59:58.160 --> 01:00:00.440
The first is not directly involved.
01:00:00.600 --> 01:00:02.520
The last does what he\'s ordered.
01:00:02.640 --> 01:00:04.960
It\'s a dispersal of responsibility.
01:00:05.120 --> 01:00:07.440
What you refer to as \"torturer\",
01:00:07.960 --> 01:00:09.360
the question is:
01:00:09.520 --> 01:00:12.200
what does he call himself?
01:00:12.800 --> 01:00:15.760
Of course
he will never call himself \"torturer\".
01:00:15.920 --> 01:00:17.280
Your torturer
01:00:17.440 --> 01:00:20.880
is a professional
who is performing a task
01:00:21.040 --> 01:00:24.360
that is technically complex
and requires training.
01:00:24.520 --> 01:00:27.520
If he\'s there it\'s because
he\'s good at his job.
01:00:29.120 --> 01:00:30.760
In those groups,
01:00:30.920 --> 01:00:34.040
is there someone
who doesn\'t pull the trigger,
01:00:34.200 --> 01:00:38.120
but is aware of the fact
torture is being practised?
01:00:39.520 --> 01:00:41.600
Two things.
Firstly...
01:00:43.000 --> 01:00:46.080
You need to protect
01:00:46.240 --> 01:00:48.600
your own psychological integrity
01:00:48.760 --> 01:00:51.520
in order to survive.
You cannot survive
01:00:51.640 --> 01:00:53.880
feeling you\'re a despicable person.
01:00:54.040 --> 01:00:57.280
There are various cognitive strategies
01:00:57.440 --> 01:00:59.800
to justify to yourself
what you are doing.
01:01:00.920 --> 01:01:04.080
So what do you do?
You dehumanise the victim.
01:01:04.800 --> 01:01:07.000
You blame that person.
01:01:07.160 --> 01:01:09.320
They should have collaborated.
01:01:09.920 --> 01:01:13.040
You use derogatory terms,
you demand obedience.
01:01:13.200 --> 01:01:15.520
There are a series of mechanisms
01:01:16.080 --> 01:01:18.720
that enable you to save face.
01:01:18.880 --> 01:01:23.320
There is an ideological justification.
This is normally minimal.
01:01:23.520 --> 01:01:27.520
The communists want to divide
the country. That\'s it.
01:01:28.200 --> 01:01:30.600
They don\'t accept their role.
01:01:30.760 --> 01:01:33.320
You use that label, he doesn\'t.
01:01:34.840 --> 01:01:36.760
I think it\'s strange
01:01:36.920 --> 01:01:39.160
how society has two value systems.
01:01:39.320 --> 01:01:42.720
One system that teaches us
certain values
01:01:42.880 --> 01:01:46.040
and produces a civilian population
01:01:46.200 --> 01:01:48.040
that is against torture,
01:01:48.200 --> 01:01:52.720
yet there is a system underneath
encouraging and creating torturers.
01:01:52.880 --> 01:01:55.000
There aren\'t two systems.
01:01:55.160 --> 01:01:58.200
There is only one,
but it uses doublespeak.
01:01:58.720 --> 01:02:03.600
If I assess the credibility
of a torture victim
01:02:04.080 --> 01:02:05.200
in Palestine,
01:02:05.360 --> 01:02:07.360
I won\'t have any trouble
01:02:07.520 --> 01:02:10.320
in having it accepted.
01:02:10.520 --> 01:02:13.760
If I have the case of Spanish police,
01:02:13.920 --> 01:02:16.680
whatever force they may be,
01:02:17.520 --> 01:02:19.800
public opinion will change radically.
01:02:19.960 --> 01:02:22.040
There is a link between
01:02:22.200 --> 01:02:25.680
the distance that exists
between the person judging
01:02:25.840 --> 01:02:27.520
and the acts of violence,
01:02:27.640 --> 01:02:29.960
and to what extent
I believe it\'s true.
01:02:30.120 --> 01:02:34.000
That occurs at political, sociological
01:02:34.160 --> 01:02:36.320
and judicial level.
01:02:36.520 --> 01:02:38.520
Consequently, I need to believe
01:02:38.640 --> 01:02:42.520
that I live in an organised,
safe, democratic environment.
01:02:43.560 --> 01:02:45.680
From that perspective,
01:02:45.840 --> 01:02:47.920
what we have is
01:02:48.080 --> 01:02:49.640
a laissez-faire attitude.
01:02:49.800 --> 01:02:52.640
There is tolerance,
it\'s a democratic country
01:02:52.800 --> 01:02:55.760
with invisible lines
that can\'t be crossed.
01:02:55.920 --> 01:02:59.640
As soon as someone steps on
the invisible line,
01:02:59.800 --> 01:03:02.080
the Spanish State,
01:03:02.240 --> 01:03:04.400
Germany...
01:03:04.560 --> 01:03:06.360
United States...
01:03:06.520 --> 01:03:08.680
as soon as the line is stepped on,
01:03:08.840 --> 01:03:11.680
what I call the \"crouching monster\"
emerges.
01:03:12.280 --> 01:03:15.200
It never vanished,
it was always underneath...
01:03:15.360 --> 01:03:16.680
and it emerges.
01:03:17.280 --> 01:03:18.720
Torture is systemic.
01:03:19.320 --> 01:03:22.200
It\'s a system.
Always regard it as such.
01:03:22.360 --> 01:03:24.800
Don\'t look for a sadistic perp.
01:03:24.960 --> 01:03:26.520
Look for the system
01:03:26.680 --> 01:03:29.280
that allows torture to be inflicted.
01:03:36.120 --> 01:03:38.320
If you had to describe
01:03:38.520 --> 01:03:40.640
the hard part,
01:03:40.800 --> 01:03:43.120
the part with ill-treatment,
01:03:43.840 --> 01:03:45.640
what would that consist of?
01:03:48.520 --> 01:03:50.240
More than the beatings?
01:03:50.400 --> 01:03:53.960
-Or the beatings.
-Obviously they hurt.
01:03:54.120 --> 01:03:57.360
But I think it\'s more about
how they hurt you
01:03:57.520 --> 01:03:59.400
as a person.
01:03:59.920 --> 01:04:01.520
The fact that
01:04:01.680 --> 01:04:03.400
you feel like an insect.
01:04:03.560 --> 01:04:06.200
You\'re a normal person
and suddenly
01:04:06.360 --> 01:04:08.360
your feelings change
01:04:08.520 --> 01:04:13.200
and you think you\'re a cockroach,
you\'re worthless.
01:04:15.080 --> 01:04:18.400
And they can do
whatever they want with you.
01:04:18.560 --> 01:04:20.520
It\'s very easy.
01:04:21.240 --> 01:04:24.800
It\'s not that you\'re ready
to do it,
01:04:24.960 --> 01:04:29.400
but you\'ve lost the will
to decide what you do or don\'t want.
01:04:30.200 --> 01:04:31.720
It\'s someone that...
01:04:32.760 --> 01:04:35.800
It\'s like you\'re a puppet
01:04:35.960 --> 01:04:39.160
and someone controls what you do.
01:04:40.720 --> 01:04:42.880
Is that after several beatings?
01:04:43.880 --> 01:04:46.440
-It might sound lurid...
-Right.
01:04:46.600 --> 01:04:47.880
In any case,
01:04:48.040 --> 01:04:51.240
the beatings hurt
01:04:51.680 --> 01:04:53.120
and leave a mark.
01:04:53.280 --> 01:04:57.400
But I think it\'s more
the intimidation...
01:04:59.600 --> 01:05:03.000
\"I\'m gonna kill you!\"
They might never do it.
01:05:03.160 --> 01:05:04.960
\"I\'m gonna kill you!\"
01:05:05.120 --> 01:05:06.600
\"I\'m gonna rape you!\"
01:05:06.760 --> 01:05:11.320
Eventually, they make you believe
all those things,
01:05:11.760 --> 01:05:14.360
you think it\'s the end
01:05:14.520 --> 01:05:16.920
and you can\'t take it anymore.
01:05:17.760 --> 01:05:19.680
The beatings do hurt.
01:05:19.840 --> 01:05:23.160
I remember they hit me with a rod
and it hurt.
01:05:23.320 --> 01:05:25.320
But I think that...
01:05:25.520 --> 01:05:27.560
No, I don\'t believe it, I\'m positive,
01:05:27.720 --> 01:05:31.440
because I\'ve experienced
it in person,
01:05:31.600 --> 01:05:35.040
that their mind games
do a lot more damage.
01:06:21.920 --> 01:06:25.400
\"Torture and ill-treatment
in the Basque Country 1960-2014\"
01:10:48.280 --> 01:10:51.520
This is where we do
the digitalisation process.
01:10:51.640 --> 01:10:53.080
They leave it here for me
01:10:53.640 --> 01:10:56.360
and this is what it would look like.
01:10:56.520 --> 01:10:59.560
So, you\'ve got the documents here,
01:10:59.720 --> 01:11:01.840
all the digital stuff...
01:11:02.720 --> 01:11:05.520
These are then taken
to the Criminology Institute.
01:11:05.680 --> 01:11:07.760
The first ones I saw are Basque Govt.
01:11:07.920 --> 01:11:10.600
This one\'s from Navarre,
are you doing it there too?
01:11:10.760 --> 01:11:11.720
Yes, we are.
01:11:11.880 --> 01:11:15.840
We started from 1960-1978
which is when the project took place.
01:11:16.000 --> 01:11:19.320
Now there\'s an expectation
to continue with this project
01:11:19.520 --> 01:11:23.560
and to use the same method,
the same teams and the same approach.
01:11:23.720 --> 01:11:26.320
That\'s in addition to the 5,000
that are already...
01:11:26.960 --> 01:11:29.680
It must be
because it all looks very similar
01:11:29.840 --> 01:11:32.240
and it\'s talking about the same issue.
01:11:33.040 --> 01:11:34.360
Let\'s head to Criminology
01:11:34.520 --> 01:11:38.320
and deliver the ones
that are ready to go.
01:12:45.960 --> 01:12:47.680
-Here are a few more folders.
-Hi.
01:12:47.840 --> 01:12:49.600
-This is Ander.
-Hi.
01:12:49.760 --> 01:12:50.640
Right.
01:12:54.560 --> 01:12:57.120
Right, I\'ve got the small report here.
01:12:58.160 --> 01:12:59.520
What is torture?
01:13:00.080 --> 01:13:04.720
The definition of torture
is split across three key elements.
01:13:04.880 --> 01:13:07.800
There\'s the material element
which is harming someone
01:13:07.960 --> 01:13:11.440
both physically
and/or psychologically.
01:13:11.600 --> 01:13:16.600
There\'s the teleological element
which is the purpose of the torture,
01:13:16.760 --> 01:13:19.080
and then
there\'s the qualified perpetrator
01:13:19.240 --> 01:13:21.160
who has to either be a public official
01:13:21.320 --> 01:13:24.000
or someone who carries out that act
01:13:24.160 --> 01:13:26.280
under an official\'s orders.
01:13:26.440 --> 01:13:29.920
So, therein lies
the gravity of the crime
01:13:30.080 --> 01:13:32.120
because the person who carries it out
01:13:32.280 --> 01:13:36.160
is someone in authority,
01:13:36.320 --> 01:13:39.120
someone who should be the first
to comply with the rules
01:13:39.280 --> 01:13:42.720
and who also has all the tools
at their disposal
01:13:42.880 --> 01:13:46.520
to get away with that crime.
01:13:46.680 --> 01:13:49.840
That discussion could be had
between a doctor and a lawyer.
01:13:50.000 --> 01:13:51.760
The lawyer would be right.
01:13:51.920 --> 01:13:55.760
Why does the word \"torture\" appear
in the Medical Code of Ethics
01:13:55.920 --> 01:13:58.680
without anyone needing
to explain its definition?
01:13:59.520 --> 01:14:02.400
What\'s torture?
Here\'s the basic definition:
01:14:03.120 --> 01:14:06.560
when a detainee suffers
physical or psychological pain
01:14:06.720 --> 01:14:08.320
inflicted by a public official.
01:14:10.080 --> 01:14:12.840
There\'s a diagram
that I find really significant,
01:14:13.000 --> 01:14:15.200
I\'d never looked at it
that way before.
01:14:16.160 --> 01:14:18.080
This is a reinterpretation.
01:14:18.240 --> 01:14:22.880
We always hear about this part,
so, ETA\'s victims,
01:14:23.040 --> 01:14:24.520
direct collateral,
01:14:24.680 --> 01:14:28.720
but nobody talks
about this huge circle:
01:14:28.880 --> 01:14:30.520
the torture victims.
01:14:30.640 --> 01:14:33.520
And the figures here...
01:14:33.680 --> 01:14:36.200
You\'ve documented 5,000 cases,
01:14:36.880 --> 01:14:38.640
how should they be interpreted?
01:14:39.680 --> 01:14:42.280
Well, some cases
were handled officially
01:14:42.880 --> 01:14:44.960
with institutional resources
01:14:45.120 --> 01:14:48.680
and perpetrators being prosecuted,
01:14:48.840 --> 01:14:51.520
whereas with other cases,
this wasn\'t carried out.
01:14:52.080 --> 01:14:55.560
There\'s this pocket
with a huge question mark inside it.
01:14:55.720 --> 01:14:57.960
Concerning prisoners
and torture victims,
01:14:58.120 --> 01:15:00.960
that would mean that
from the 60s until now,
01:15:01.120 --> 01:15:05.360
around 20,000 have been detained
in the Basque Country and Navarre.
01:15:06.400 --> 01:15:11.640
From those 20,000 people,
almost 10,000 were affected.
01:15:12.800 --> 01:15:14.920
-Ten thousand cases of torture?
-Yes.
01:15:15.080 --> 01:15:17.680
Of people who don\'t want
to talk about it even now.
01:15:19.520 --> 01:15:21.960
A concept that stood out to me
01:15:22.120 --> 01:15:25.880
was the cross-sectional
statistical approach.
01:15:26.520 --> 01:15:32.120
You start looking at the numbers
and the data provided here
01:15:32.280 --> 01:15:34.520
and so many conclusions
can be drawn from it.
01:15:34.680 --> 01:15:38.120
You\'ve gathered so much information
01:15:38.280 --> 01:15:40.520
and have really broken it down.
01:15:40.640 --> 01:15:44.680
There\'s one piece of information
that stood out to me in all of this.
01:15:45.760 --> 01:15:49.240
There has been more torture
under a democracy than a dictatorship.
01:15:49.400 --> 01:15:51.080
How is this possible?
01:15:51.240 --> 01:15:54.720
There\'s a bias in this investigation:
the further we delve,
01:15:54.880 --> 01:15:57.400
the less info we have
because of disappearances.
01:15:58.040 --> 01:16:01.640
But you\'re right,
there was a point in the early sixties
01:16:02.240 --> 01:16:04.720
where there were
an awful lot of cases.
01:16:05.520 --> 01:16:09.040
And very serious cases.
They were some tough years...
01:16:09.200 --> 01:16:14.080
Then there were guilty verdicts
in the early eighties.
01:16:14.240 --> 01:16:16.200
When some cases came to light,
01:16:16.880 --> 01:16:20.080
they went to trial
and that\'s when some methods changed.
01:16:20.240 --> 01:16:22.080
Since the Zabalza case...
01:16:23.200 --> 01:16:25.560
using bathtubs
became far less popular.
01:16:26.120 --> 01:16:28.240
Not bags, but bathtubs.
01:16:29.280 --> 01:16:30.760
You can tell.
01:16:31.680 --> 01:16:35.360
And in the last few years,
bathtubs seem to have become obsolete.
01:16:35.520 --> 01:16:37.400
Someone must\'ve said:
01:16:37.560 --> 01:16:41.240
\"Don\'t you dare use this
on anyone else.\"
01:16:41.760 --> 01:16:44.640
We\'ve been able to gauge that
from the database.
01:16:45.920 --> 01:16:47.840
There\'s a strange statistic here:
01:16:48.000 --> 01:16:51.760
the number of torture cases
from the Basque Police seems very low
01:16:51.920 --> 01:16:54.320
until the year 2000,
and from that point on,
01:16:54.520 --> 01:16:57.400
they\'re right up there with
the Civil Guard and National Police.
01:16:58.320 --> 01:16:59.920
How do you explain this?
01:17:00.080 --> 01:17:01.920
This is info that has come out
01:17:02.080 --> 01:17:04.720
using the same relevance,
the same method,
01:17:05.400 --> 01:17:08.160
and the same Istanbul Protocol.
01:17:08.320 --> 01:17:12.320
It shows people are talking about
what they really experienced.
01:17:13.720 --> 01:17:18.400
I want to talk about the relationship
between torture and counterterrorism.
01:17:18.560 --> 01:17:21.920
This is a graph
of the number of tortures per year.
01:17:22.520 --> 01:17:24.360
I took the truce periods:
01:17:24.520 --> 01:17:26.440
ETA\'s political-military truce,
01:17:26.600 --> 01:17:28.800
Algiers, the Democratic Alternative,
01:17:28.960 --> 01:17:31.600
the Lizarra-Garazi Accord,
the T4 truce,
01:17:31.760 --> 01:17:33.880
and every time there\'s a truce...
01:17:34.840 --> 01:17:36.080
the numbers plummet.
01:17:36.240 --> 01:17:38.080
Because detentions drop.
01:17:38.240 --> 01:17:39.080
-It drops?
-Yes.
01:17:39.240 --> 01:17:42.320
And yet when there\'s a sudden spike,
01:17:42.520 --> 01:17:43.520
not long after...
01:17:43.640 --> 01:17:45.240
A tough blow for ETA.
01:17:45.920 --> 01:17:48.360
The first arrests of ETA\'s leaders...
01:17:49.880 --> 01:17:51.040
Zararte,
01:17:51.200 --> 01:17:53.800
Operation Sokoa, the Tolosa siege,
01:17:53.960 --> 01:17:55.520
Josu Ternera, Bidart,
01:17:55.640 --> 01:17:56.840
Mikel Antza.
01:17:57.440 --> 01:17:59.040
Those graphs refer to
01:17:59.200 --> 01:18:04.280
an undeniable
historical chronology of events.
01:18:04.440 --> 01:18:07.840
But, historically,
almost the opposite has been said.
01:18:08.000 --> 01:18:11.960
In other words,
they say that ETA used torture
01:18:12.120 --> 01:18:16.280
as an instrument
to destabilise the democratic system.
01:18:16.440 --> 01:18:18.880
You\'re talking about ETA\'s rules...
01:18:19.840 --> 01:18:22.080
which they presumably gave
to their members
01:18:22.240 --> 01:18:24.080
so they would always report torture.
01:18:24.680 --> 01:18:27.080
We\'re talking about the ETA manual.
01:18:27.760 --> 01:18:31.000
Does it exist? Have you found it?
What can you tell me about it?
01:18:31.160 --> 01:18:34.320
We\'ve taken official measures.
01:18:34.520 --> 01:18:36.320
You\'ve seen the original documents
01:18:36.520 --> 01:18:39.600
which are said
to have inspired ETA\'s manual.
01:18:39.760 --> 01:18:42.200
It\'s about two or three pages long.
01:18:42.360 --> 01:18:44.640
The manual didn\'t seem very efficient
01:18:44.800 --> 01:18:46.720
because
they didn\'t all report torture.
01:18:46.880 --> 01:18:49.160
It makes sense for ETA members,
01:18:49.320 --> 01:18:52.320
but for those who weren\'t ETA members,
01:18:52.520 --> 01:18:54.960
which was demonstrated
by their acquittals,
01:18:55.120 --> 01:18:57.600
why did they report torture
and ill-treatment?
01:18:59.960 --> 01:19:03.680
Reading this study, it seems
like within the Basque conflict,
01:19:04.240 --> 01:19:08.280
torture has been a mechanism
that\'s prolonged the situation.
01:19:08.440 --> 01:19:12.000
Even the police have said this.
01:19:13.080 --> 01:19:16.240
They didn\'t think that
a lot of these non-entities
01:19:16.400 --> 01:19:18.840
who could be controlled
would take it further
01:19:19.440 --> 01:19:21.720
for fear of being detained.
01:19:21.880 --> 01:19:23.520
\"I\'m not giving myself up!\"
01:19:24.080 --> 01:19:27.000
Because of that fear,
they crossed a few lines
01:19:27.160 --> 01:19:28.960
and they became people
01:19:29.120 --> 01:19:34.000
who were a lot more actively involved.
01:19:37.600 --> 01:19:40.160
There were 20 sentences
from 1972-1992,
01:19:40.320 --> 01:19:42.880
an average of two a year,
and then it was cut short.
01:19:43.720 --> 01:19:46.600
A conviction
was because a Basque judge
01:19:46.760 --> 01:19:48.960
or Basque doctor had reported it.
01:19:49.120 --> 01:19:51.720
Then they started
taking prisoners to Madrid.
01:19:51.880 --> 01:19:53.880
-Was it to cover it up?
-Of course.
01:19:54.520 --> 01:19:56.920
When judges here became more involved,
01:19:57.080 --> 01:19:59.680
joining us on medical investigations.
01:19:59.840 --> 01:20:03.040
They wanted to see it for themselves
and it didn\'t go down well.
01:20:03.600 --> 01:20:06.080
Madrid was a quick-fix solution
01:20:06.240 --> 01:20:10.280
to avoid the sudden inconvenience
01:20:10.440 --> 01:20:13.800
of a judge looking into it
more than they should.
01:20:15.120 --> 01:20:18.080
Before Strasbourg,
no other convictions were made
01:20:18.240 --> 01:20:20.680
and that was
due to a lack of investigation.
01:20:20.840 --> 01:20:22.400
Is it the same as saying:
01:20:22.560 --> 01:20:25.160
\"They convicted us
for not investigating it,
01:20:25.320 --> 01:20:27.520
but not for torture.\"
01:20:27.640 --> 01:20:30.440
Spain doesn\'t investigate torture.
01:20:30.600 --> 01:20:33.440
We don\'t know
if torture has taken place or not
01:20:33.600 --> 01:20:35.840
and they don\'t investigate it.
01:20:36.000 --> 01:20:37.880
It\'s one step further
01:20:38.360 --> 01:20:41.640
in the face of a practice
that is unpunished.
01:20:43.880 --> 01:20:46.680
26,113 documents had been analysed
01:20:46.840 --> 01:20:49.560
when this document was published.
01:20:50.560 --> 01:20:53.960
What documents were they?
Where did they come from?
01:20:54.120 --> 01:20:56.080
Everywhere.
Everywhere.
01:20:56.240 --> 01:20:57.440
From books,
01:20:57.600 --> 01:21:01.200
reports,
photocopies that people were hiding...
01:21:02.520 --> 01:21:04.200
archival materials...
01:21:04.760 --> 01:21:06.680
lawyers\' documents...
01:21:08.760 --> 01:21:12.920
I don\'t know if there\'s a way
of summing all of that up.
01:21:14.000 --> 01:21:15.520
Here\'s just one example.
01:21:16.320 --> 01:21:21.960
This book was about priests
that had been tortured.
01:21:22.120 --> 01:21:23.520
Here are their names
01:21:24.160 --> 01:21:26.080
and their testimonies.
01:21:26.840 --> 01:21:29.200
Juan Mari, Felipe...
01:21:30.240 --> 01:21:32.120
So, what did we do?
01:21:32.280 --> 01:21:35.760
We tracked them down
and asked them whether this was true.
01:21:36.760 --> 01:21:38.520
The court records,
01:21:38.680 --> 01:21:41.160
the fines they were charged with,
pictures...
01:21:42.280 --> 01:21:43.360
of the torture.
01:21:43.520 --> 01:21:48.040
This example can be supported
by these documents.
01:21:48.200 --> 01:21:50.760
So, this person,
this priest who was tortured,
01:21:51.520 --> 01:21:55.200
wrote the following:
\"Keep these newspaper cuttings
01:21:55.360 --> 01:21:57.400
for the day the truth comes out.\"
01:21:58.520 --> 01:22:00.000
The doctors recorded
01:22:00.840 --> 01:22:02.640
the ill-treatment and torture.
01:22:02.800 --> 01:22:04.960
This could have been lost,
01:22:05.120 --> 01:22:06.640
but we scanned a copy.
01:22:07.160 --> 01:22:08.200
This is one of them.
01:22:08.360 --> 01:22:10.800
Another journal on torture
from May 1985.
01:22:10.960 --> 01:22:12.720
Biscay Bar Association.
01:22:12.880 --> 01:22:14.640
I was at this meeting.
01:22:16.400 --> 01:22:18.520
\"Torture in Euskadi:
01:22:18.640 --> 01:22:21.720
Anti-Torture Group
from the University of Zorroaga.\"
01:22:22.400 --> 01:22:24.720
This book, written by Eva Forest,
01:22:24.880 --> 01:22:26.320
is a set of testimonies
01:22:26.520 --> 01:22:30.160
that she already gathered
from others while in prison.
01:22:31.000 --> 01:22:33.000
These are the medical notes
01:22:33.160 --> 01:22:34.440
with X-rays...
01:22:35.400 --> 01:22:36.800
documents.
01:22:37.240 --> 01:22:40.280
\"Orozco, 1983,
eight days in Indautxu.\"
01:22:41.160 --> 01:22:43.520
Next: \"Student, 25 years, male.\"
01:22:43.680 --> 01:22:45.520
\"18-year-old woman, student.\"
01:22:45.640 --> 01:22:46.600
Here it is.
01:22:46.760 --> 01:22:48.600
Here\'s what happened to her.
01:22:48.760 --> 01:22:51.840
-The doctors kept this hidden?
-They did.
01:22:52.520 --> 01:22:55.040
If a name was included,
we\'d track them down
01:22:55.200 --> 01:22:56.320
and call them:
01:22:56.520 --> 01:22:58.200
\"How did you have...\"
01:22:58.360 --> 01:23:00.400
\"Didn\'t you do an X-ray on them?\"
01:23:00.560 --> 01:23:02.840
\"Didn\'t you do a check-up
on these people?\"
01:23:03.000 --> 01:23:06.280
They didn\'t know
that these records had been kept.
01:23:06.760 --> 01:23:09.360
\"Is this yours? Was his foot...\"
01:23:10.400 --> 01:23:12.720
And when they said yes,
we included it.
01:23:13.880 --> 01:23:15.040
What are these?
01:23:15.200 --> 01:23:16.880
Magnetic tapes
01:23:17.520 --> 01:23:19.360
which someone picked up.
01:23:19.840 --> 01:23:22.520
We got them about a month ago.
01:23:23.520 --> 01:23:27.040
Someone who trusted in our project.
01:23:27.200 --> 01:23:30.600
We\'re going to convert these
to something more up to date.
01:23:30.760 --> 01:23:35.680
All of these are also DVDs
that have already been extracted.
01:23:35.840 --> 01:23:37.800
This is what it boils down to:
01:23:37.960 --> 01:23:40.440
the Basque government made recordings
01:23:40.600 --> 01:23:42.200
and this is someone\'s case.
01:23:42.360 --> 01:23:43.960
You have their name here.
01:23:44.120 --> 01:23:46.120
So, we\'ve got documentation,
01:23:46.280 --> 01:23:50.160
we have testimonies
where they say their piece,
01:23:50.320 --> 01:23:53.640
and expert evidence,
which is the Istanbul Protocol.
01:23:53.800 --> 01:23:56.680
The importance
of the project is also about
01:23:56.840 --> 01:24:00.320
gathering
all of these important documents
01:24:00.520 --> 01:24:02.080
for these kinds of reports
01:24:02.240 --> 01:24:04.120
which are now saved
01:24:04.280 --> 01:24:06.880
and digitised forever.
01:24:07.040 --> 01:24:08.680
And there\'s an archive
01:24:08.840 --> 01:24:12.240
that pools together
all of these components
01:24:12.400 --> 01:24:14.400
of documented evidence.
01:24:15.080 --> 01:24:19.520
We\'ve also shown testimonies
recorded by other organisations,
01:24:19.640 --> 01:24:21.600
but the ones we have,
01:24:21.760 --> 01:24:25.520
so you can see them,
were directly recorded by Paco.
01:24:25.640 --> 01:24:27.600
They\'ve been classified.
01:24:28.280 --> 01:24:30.040
I\'ve recorded 500 people.
01:24:30.200 --> 01:24:33.000
-Five hundred people?
-Yes.
01:24:35.640 --> 01:24:38.640
How did you feel
after hearing 500 accounts?
01:24:38.800 --> 01:24:40.560
It\'s been hard.
01:24:41.640 --> 01:24:45.240
This is the toughest project
we\'ve ever worked on.
01:24:45.960 --> 01:24:49.000
First, you\'re dealing with
those affected
01:24:49.160 --> 01:24:52.200
and then those
who supported and allowed it.
01:24:53.160 --> 01:24:57.720
So, sometimes,
we would carry around this sadness.
01:24:58.680 --> 01:25:01.240
When you see one case after another,
01:25:01.400 --> 01:25:02.680
the cruelty, etc...
01:25:03.280 --> 01:25:06.040
There\'s some
really harrowing stuff there.
01:25:08.520 --> 01:25:11.280
Can I see those archives?
Is that possible?
01:25:11.440 --> 01:25:12.880
Let\'s take a look.
01:25:13.040 --> 01:25:14.520
The files...
01:25:14.680 --> 01:25:17.880
You can\'t see a specific example,
but that folder
01:25:18.040 --> 01:25:19.240
contains documents.
01:25:19.400 --> 01:25:21.040
Take your pick.
01:25:21.600 --> 01:25:23.760
Here\'s part of it.
01:25:24.880 --> 01:25:29.360
As I said, these are physical folders,
but we have digital ones.
01:25:29.520 --> 01:25:34.520
Each folder has a digitised version
on the computer.
01:25:34.680 --> 01:25:36.920
Then we have a database
01:25:37.080 --> 01:25:40.880
that contains information on each case
01:25:41.040 --> 01:25:44.840
to then carry out
any quantitative analyses
01:25:45.000 --> 01:25:46.800
that appear in the report.
01:25:46.960 --> 01:25:49.720
There are numbers going
from 2,000-and-something
01:25:49.880 --> 01:25:53.600
to 2,516 to 2,565,
01:25:53.760 --> 01:25:56.000
2,741 to 2799...
01:25:57.000 --> 01:26:01.960
-Is each piece of paper a case?
-Of course.
01:26:02.800 --> 01:26:04.680
Sometimes containing more information.
01:26:05.600 --> 01:26:07.200
If we take this out...
01:26:07.360 --> 01:26:09.440
-The physical folder?
-Yes.
01:26:09.600 --> 01:26:11.080
Trust me.
01:26:11.840 --> 01:26:16.160
-Some have more or fewer documents...
-Each represents one person?
01:26:16.320 --> 01:26:17.760
That\'s right.
01:26:18.520 --> 01:26:20.320
Wow, unbelievable.
01:26:26.520 --> 01:26:31.200
An important outcome of this is that
they\'ve been sent to those people.
01:26:31.360 --> 01:26:35.080
If you\'re sitting at home one day
and receive an envelope...
01:26:36.080 --> 01:26:38.360
from the government with your case
01:26:38.520 --> 01:26:40.920
including a DVD,
papers and photocopies
01:26:41.080 --> 01:26:43.200
that prove your case,
that\'s important.
01:26:44.000 --> 01:26:46.960
The impact
is that the documents have arrived
01:26:47.120 --> 01:26:48.840
and Mum or Dad
01:26:49.000 --> 01:26:51.120
have gathered the kids together
and said:
01:26:51.280 --> 01:26:54.200
\"I\'ve never known
how to broach this with you,
01:26:54.360 --> 01:26:56.120
this is what happened.\"
01:28:21.640 --> 01:28:23.440
TORTURE
01:28:23.600 --> 01:28:26.360
ACCUSATION
01:28:32.320 --> 01:28:34.040
NO TO TORTURE
01:28:58.440 --> 01:29:02.040
REPARATIONS FOR TRUE JUSTICE
01:29:13.360 --> 01:29:15.640
\"Torture project:
01:29:15.800 --> 01:29:17.400
Joxe Iriarte Zabaleta.
01:29:19.800 --> 01:29:23.960
The book states that you were tortured
01:29:24.120 --> 01:29:26.400
at the Rentería y Antiguo barracks,
01:29:26.560 --> 01:29:29.080
as this subsequent document
illustrates.\"
01:29:30.080 --> 01:29:31.360
Right...
01:29:33.640 --> 01:29:37.960
\"Tortured by the Civil Guard.
Period of solitary confinement.
01:29:39.800 --> 01:29:42.840
Type of torture inflicted:
physical and psychological.
01:29:43.000 --> 01:29:45.520
Was not reported at the time.\"
01:29:50.160 --> 01:29:53.640
Except for sexual torture,
you experienced...
01:29:55.960 --> 01:29:57.720
everything else.
01:30:00.640 --> 01:30:02.560
\"Blows to the head
01:30:04.520 --> 01:30:06.840
with hands, fists,
01:30:09.040 --> 01:30:11.840
debilitation,
forced to stand on tiptoes,
01:30:12.320 --> 01:30:14.200
strenuous physical exercise,
01:30:14.360 --> 01:30:16.000
positional torture...
01:30:16.920 --> 01:30:18.000
threats,
01:30:18.160 --> 01:30:19.800
threats of torture,
01:30:21.520 --> 01:30:23.400
prolonged interrogation,
01:30:23.560 --> 01:30:25.320
constant noise,
01:30:25.520 --> 01:30:26.840
insults, humiliation,
01:30:27.000 --> 01:30:29.520
hair-pulling, incessant questions,
01:30:29.640 --> 01:30:31.360
light and sound torture,
01:30:33.080 --> 01:30:35.960
good cop, bad cop,
01:30:36.760 --> 01:30:39.120
creating feelings of guilt...\"
01:30:43.440 --> 01:30:46.360
It\'s hard to read this
01:30:48.000 --> 01:30:50.280
in such a clinical way.
01:30:52.400 --> 01:30:54.800
What\'s stayed with you in all of this?
01:30:56.960 --> 01:30:57.840
Well...
01:30:58.600 --> 01:31:03.320
I would often dream that I had
ended up in the hands of the police...
01:31:05.320 --> 01:31:11.240
and that
they were brutally torturing me.
01:31:12.080 --> 01:31:16.560
But that has more to do
with my own internalised fears.
01:31:17.280 --> 01:31:21.520
When I\'ve seen signs of torture,
01:31:21.640 --> 01:31:26.360
and I\'m referring
to the most brutal kind of torture,
01:31:26.520 --> 01:31:30.200
or when I\'ve read about
01:31:31.120 --> 01:31:34.600
sexual assault in police stations
01:31:34.760 --> 01:31:37.240
against women,
01:31:37.960 --> 01:31:41.920
it\'s made my stomach turn
01:31:42.440 --> 01:31:46.400
and I\'ve internalised it.
01:31:47.040 --> 01:31:50.400
It\'s very different
to look at it from the outside
01:31:50.560 --> 01:31:53.960
in a clinical or empathetic way,
01:31:54.120 --> 01:31:56.760
versus actually seeing it happen
01:31:56.920 --> 01:31:59.600
and quickly realising
01:31:59.760 --> 01:32:02.440
how these mechanisms work
01:32:02.600 --> 01:32:06.560
and just how awful reality is.
01:32:07.320 --> 01:32:11.840
You know what gets me?
01:32:15.240 --> 01:32:17.680
I knew that you\'d gone
to the police station
01:32:17.840 --> 01:32:20.040
since it was written in the book.
01:32:20.760 --> 01:32:22.200
But we...
01:32:24.520 --> 01:32:29.000
assumed that what happened to you
was part of the game,
01:32:29.160 --> 01:32:32.920
the price to be paid.
01:32:33.080 --> 01:32:35.120
Our family has never spoken
about this.
01:32:35.280 --> 01:32:37.440
When it comes to our family,
01:32:37.600 --> 01:32:40.720
it\'s not that I didn\'t want
01:32:41.920 --> 01:32:46.240
to talk about the tough times,
01:32:46.920 --> 01:32:49.720
it\'s just that I had taken a good look
at the system
01:32:49.880 --> 01:32:54.640
and because of that,
I\'d rationalised my life
01:32:54.800 --> 01:32:59.560
and learnt how to protect myself
from any future blows.
01:32:59.720 --> 01:33:02.120
Your way of coming to terms with it?
01:33:02.280 --> 01:33:03.560
Of course.
01:33:03.720 --> 01:33:08.680
I always knew that sooner or later,
I would be repressed.
01:33:08.840 --> 01:33:12.760
That\'s why
I had internalised that repression
01:33:12.920 --> 01:33:16.120
as one of the possible consequences
of my activism.
01:33:16.280 --> 01:33:18.120
I wasn\'t innocent in that aspect
01:33:18.280 --> 01:33:22.920
and that allows you to see things
from a different angle.
01:33:23.080 --> 01:33:24.840
That probably protected me
01:33:25.000 --> 01:33:27.320
from potentially
falling into depression.
01:33:27.720 --> 01:33:30.800
I was tortured as part of their game
01:33:30.960 --> 01:33:35.840
and that\'s how I managed to
get through it relatively unscathed.
01:33:36.800 --> 01:33:38.840
When I listen to you,
01:33:39.000 --> 01:33:41.360
I hear that Eutski tinko
or \"Resist\" chant.
01:33:41.520 --> 01:33:45.880
You mentally prepare yourself
for torture or any situation.
01:33:46.040 --> 01:33:48.960
It\'s reminiscent of the legend
of Itziar\'s son.
01:33:49.120 --> 01:33:52.160
That was the legend at the time,
and that\'s precisely why.
01:33:52.800 --> 01:33:56.720
They did everything to him,
every kind of torture,
01:33:56.880 --> 01:33:59.600
and the guy didn\'t say a word.
01:34:00.600 --> 01:34:02.840
What we went through was really tough,
01:34:03.400 --> 01:34:08.080
otherwise I wouldn\'t have
given up my friends\' names.
01:34:08.240 --> 01:34:12.000
I cracked on the third day
01:34:12.160 --> 01:34:14.120
when I just couldn\'t take it anymore.
01:34:14.280 --> 01:34:19.560
I was constantly negotiating
in my head
01:34:19.720 --> 01:34:24.240
how I could give them a name
01:34:26.040 --> 01:34:29.640
and cause the least possible damage.
01:34:29.800 --> 01:34:34.880
But that was a really painful process,
01:34:35.040 --> 01:34:38.600
giving up my friends\' names.
01:34:38.760 --> 01:34:41.720
I think when my friend
01:34:41.880 --> 01:34:45.120
gave up my name,
01:34:45.280 --> 01:34:47.960
he had gone through the same thing.
01:34:48.120 --> 01:34:50.320
That\'s something...
01:34:55.520 --> 01:34:57.440
This is the DVD with your testimony.
01:34:57.600 --> 01:35:00.160
I\'d like for us to watch it together,
01:35:00.320 --> 01:35:03.280
if that\'s okay with you.
01:35:03.880 --> 01:35:05.200
Of course.
01:35:05.880 --> 01:35:07.360
Okay.
01:35:14.520 --> 01:35:17.200
State your name and surname.
01:35:18.400 --> 01:35:21.800
My name is Joxe Iriarte Zabaleta.
01:35:22.880 --> 01:35:26.920
Tell us what happened
01:35:27.320 --> 01:35:29.160
during your detention.
01:35:29.960 --> 01:35:34.600
We were three young guys
01:35:34.760 --> 01:35:37.680
who were part of
the ETA command unit.
01:35:37.840 --> 01:35:43.440
It was midnight
when they knocked on the door.
01:35:43.600 --> 01:35:46.000
My family woke up
and asked who they were:
01:35:46.160 --> 01:35:47.800
\"The Civil Guard\", they said.
01:35:48.760 --> 01:35:53.640
And that\'s when
the interrogation started.
01:35:53.800 --> 01:35:56.760
They got me to do push-ups.
01:35:56.920 --> 01:36:01.320
After one, two, three hours,
01:36:02.280 --> 01:36:08.040
your head starts spinning,
you can\'t see anything,
01:36:08.200 --> 01:36:09.960
the walls are moving,
01:36:10.120 --> 01:36:12.120
your vision gets blurry,
01:36:13.680 --> 01:36:18.520
and you start finding it difficult
to control your mind.
01:36:18.640 --> 01:36:21.240
Then, out of nowhere,
they smacked me hard.
01:36:21.400 --> 01:36:26.840
I fell to the ground and they started
shouting: \"Fucking separatist!\"
01:36:28.320 --> 01:36:30.720
They started kicking and punching me
01:36:30.880 --> 01:36:33.840
without any explanation...
01:37:43.080 --> 01:37:44.720
You hear the news
01:37:44.880 --> 01:37:48.240
that one of the most violent,
most-wanted groups in Bilbao
01:37:48.400 --> 01:37:49.280
has fallen,
01:37:49.440 --> 01:37:53.160
everything starts to come out
and they start to say the names...
01:37:53.640 --> 01:37:55.840
It\'s life-changing.
01:37:56.000 --> 01:37:58.520
There\'s a before and after
in your life.
01:37:58.680 --> 01:38:00.840
That\'s when the fear set in.
01:38:01.000 --> 01:38:03.520
I always say that from that moment on,
01:38:03.640 --> 01:38:05.840
I\'ve been scared out of my mind.
01:38:06.960 --> 01:38:10.720
And you think:
what must they be doing to them?
01:38:10.880 --> 01:38:13.720
You know you have eight or ten days
ahead of you...
01:38:14.640 --> 01:38:16.120
and you can\'t do a thing.
01:38:18.080 --> 01:38:20.760
I felt the crack.
01:38:21.400 --> 01:38:24.920
I heard that sound
of when someone walks down the street
01:38:25.080 --> 01:38:26.800
and steps on a cockroach
01:38:26.960 --> 01:38:30.960
and it makes that crunchy sound
when you step on it,
01:38:31.120 --> 01:38:34.440
I swear I felt that sound internally.
01:38:35.400 --> 01:38:39.240
I used to be one person
and then I was another.
01:38:39.960 --> 01:38:43.200
But after
going through the Protocol...
01:38:44.680 --> 01:38:49.240
that sound that I felt inside
made sense.
01:38:49.960 --> 01:38:53.200
And that\'s because
they had managed to break me.
01:38:54.240 --> 01:38:55.640
So...
01:38:57.400 --> 01:39:00.680
if I wanted to survive,
I had to get my head together.
01:39:01.600 --> 01:39:05.000
It has changed my perception
of society and people.
01:39:07.000 --> 01:39:10.560
When I meet new people
or start hanging out with people,
01:39:11.320 --> 01:39:14.760
I always believe
that those people are going to...
01:39:15.880 --> 01:39:17.760
hurt me somehow
01:39:17.920 --> 01:39:20.560
and that they\'re aware of it.
01:39:20.720 --> 01:39:23.800
If one of my mates
didn\'t pay for drinks,
01:39:23.960 --> 01:39:26.520
I\'d think
he might be strapped for cash
01:39:26.640 --> 01:39:30.200
or got carried away,
not that he\'s doing it on purpose.
01:39:30.360 --> 01:39:34.600
I automatically think
everyone\'s doing something on purpose,
01:39:34.760 --> 01:39:36.800
that they\'re being calculating...
01:39:38.880 --> 01:39:41.600
and serving their own interests.
01:39:43.240 --> 01:39:47.280
That\'s what stuck with me
from my experience with the police.
01:39:48.000 --> 01:39:52.280
The evil in people
has stayed with you.
01:39:53.280 --> 01:39:56.640
To go through the scariest moment
of your life,
01:39:56.800 --> 01:39:59.960
the worst anxiety,
the most vulnerable moment,
01:40:00.120 --> 01:40:05.400
and even then,
they\'re able to keep pushing.
01:40:08.280 --> 01:40:11.960
With COVID,
01:40:12.840 --> 01:40:16.320
we\'ve constantly
had to have permission to move around.
01:40:16.920 --> 01:40:19.880
I had all kinds of passes,
01:40:20.040 --> 01:40:24.440
copies of all my documents everywhere:
at home, in my bag, in the car...
01:40:24.600 --> 01:40:26.200
and in spite of that,
01:40:26.360 --> 01:40:29.680
it was really hard for me
to leave the house every day.
01:40:29.840 --> 01:40:33.080
I had permission to go to work,
01:40:33.240 --> 01:40:35.680
but I was always scared
that I\'d get stopped.
01:40:35.840 --> 01:40:37.960
There\'s no telling
what would\'ve happened.
01:40:38.760 --> 01:40:42.400
I know that all
they would\'ve asked for is my papers,
01:40:42.560 --> 01:40:45.720
but I know
what goes on under those uniforms.
01:40:45.880 --> 01:40:48.840
I know. I know what lies behind.
01:40:52.760 --> 01:40:55.640
I have two small kids.
01:40:56.680 --> 01:41:01.960
I would play with my son a lot
01:41:02.400 --> 01:41:07.200
and sometimes he\'d put a cushion
or his hand on my mouth...
01:41:08.840 --> 01:41:12.760
and I couldn\'t take it.
01:41:12.920 --> 01:41:15.000
At first, my mind would go blank,
01:41:15.160 --> 01:41:18.280
but I slowly started to be able
to tell him not to do that.
01:41:19.240 --> 01:41:22.080
\"Why?\", he would ask.
01:41:22.240 --> 01:41:25.640
I explained that I\'d been in prison
01:41:25.800 --> 01:41:28.640
and that I\'d had a rough time
with the police.
01:41:29.920 --> 01:41:34.920
He understood and stopped doing it.
01:41:35.640 --> 01:41:39.680
I couldn\'t do it with my daughter.
She\'d put her hand on my mouth
01:41:39.840 --> 01:41:42.880
and I wanted to tell her,
but I couldn\'t.
01:41:43.040 --> 01:41:47.680
She was so cute and small
and I couldn\'t talk to her about it.
01:41:47.840 --> 01:41:51.680
One Sunday afternoon,
after lunch with my family,
01:41:51.840 --> 01:41:54.520
I couldn\'t stay
and went to my room to cry.
01:41:55.720 --> 01:41:57.160
My son Oinatz saw me
01:41:57.320 --> 01:42:01.920
and asked me if I was feeling down
because of the torture.
01:42:04.120 --> 01:42:05.720
I told him I was.
01:42:05.880 --> 01:42:08.160
At that moment, Izaro came in,
01:42:08.320 --> 01:42:11.200
she\'s going to be four soon...
01:42:11.840 --> 01:42:15.200
She asked me what was wrong
and I just collapsed.
01:42:16.760 --> 01:42:20.600
Oinatz saw the situation and said...
01:42:21.920 --> 01:42:24.920
\"The police hurt Daddy\'s heart.\"
01:42:25.760 --> 01:42:28.320
She looked over at Oinatz first
and then me...
01:42:29.360 --> 01:42:31.200
and said:
01:42:31.360 --> 01:42:33.440
\"Don\'t worry, Daddy, just breathe.\"
01:42:36.840 --> 01:42:38.040
Egoitz...
01:42:38.760 --> 01:42:43.040
Oinatz was spot on.
It doesn\'t get any clearer than that.
01:42:43.840 --> 01:42:45.840
Yes, that\'s the best explanation.
01:42:46.360 --> 01:42:49.640
\"What\'s wrong with Daddy?\",
\"Well, his heart hurts.\"
01:42:51.640 --> 01:42:55.520
I\'ll forever be grateful to my son
for that moment.
01:43:04.240 --> 01:43:08.640
The conversation about torture
is still pending with my son
01:43:08.800 --> 01:43:10.640
because I\'m waiting for...
01:43:10.800 --> 01:43:13.120
Since it\'s such a painful thing,
01:43:13.800 --> 01:43:16.200
I still haven\'t sat down with him
01:43:16.360 --> 01:43:18.200
because I\'m waiting for him.
01:43:18.360 --> 01:43:21.000
He\'s probably waiting
so as not to hurt me,
01:43:21.160 --> 01:43:23.520
and I\'m doing it not to...
01:43:23.640 --> 01:43:26.960
There\'ll come a time
where we\'ll be able to talk about it.
01:43:27.560 --> 01:43:29.360
In that same vein...
01:43:30.400 --> 01:43:32.800
I think that torture is something...
01:43:36.120 --> 01:43:37.400
we don\'t talk about.
01:43:39.120 --> 01:43:42.120
Everything that\'s come
from those tortures:
01:43:42.920 --> 01:43:45.560
other arrests, other torture,
01:43:45.720 --> 01:43:47.200
other consequences...
01:43:47.360 --> 01:43:49.680
has created a sense of suffering
01:43:49.840 --> 01:43:52.400
that can\'t be seen.
01:43:53.520 --> 01:43:57.880
And, yes, we\'ve talked about it...
01:43:59.080 --> 01:44:00.560
but we\'ve normalised it.
01:44:02.120 --> 01:44:05.320
Don\'t you think
that we\'re scared of knowing too?
01:44:06.720 --> 01:44:08.440
Scared of knowing?
01:44:09.320 --> 01:44:13.920
Because the way you\'re treated
can be so cruel
01:44:14.080 --> 01:44:17.960
that it can destroy a human being
on the inside,
01:44:18.120 --> 01:44:21.120
leave them feeling
like a wreck, a cockroach,
01:44:21.280 --> 01:44:22.880
so, you also get scared.
01:44:23.040 --> 01:44:26.640
You\'re so scared
of adding to that suffering.
01:44:30.760 --> 01:44:35.040
A few years ago on 13th February,
01:44:35.200 --> 01:44:37.760
they carried out a peaceful campaign
01:44:37.920 --> 01:44:41.520
to raise awareness on torture
01:44:42.080 --> 01:44:45.600
and to explain that it had occurred
in the Basque Country.
01:44:45.760 --> 01:44:50.080
I live in a small town
01:44:50.240 --> 01:44:54.720
and they had plastered quotes
from torture victims...
01:44:56.120 --> 01:44:57.280
all over the place:
01:44:57.440 --> 01:45:00.720
on the walls, bridges, lampposts...
01:45:01.520 --> 01:45:06.000
And when I was taking my kids
to school,
01:45:06.160 --> 01:45:08.760
I started reading the comments.
01:45:08.920 --> 01:45:11.000
I felt so defenceless...
01:45:12.080 --> 01:45:13.720
so small,
01:45:13.880 --> 01:45:16.320
and I went home feeling so dejected.
01:45:19.680 --> 01:45:23.800
I\'m disappointed
that my political environment...
01:45:25.160 --> 01:45:30.920
didn\'t help me one bit
in telling my story.
01:45:32.080 --> 01:45:36.360
Those around me know
that I\'ve been tortured,
01:45:36.520 --> 01:45:37.800
but...
01:45:38.960 --> 01:45:40.760
that was a common thing...
01:45:41.560 --> 01:45:43.760
with all arrests.
01:45:43.920 --> 01:45:47.800
It was assumed
that if you moved around
01:45:48.600 --> 01:45:52.680
in certain political circles,
01:45:52.840 --> 01:45:56.840
that it could happen to you.
01:45:59.920 --> 01:46:04.520
So, each person ends up
putting up a wall
01:46:04.680 --> 01:46:06.440
which also spreads internally.
01:46:07.920 --> 01:46:10.760
You look straight ahead,
suck it up and keep going.
01:46:13.200 --> 01:46:17.040
In my group of friends,
01:46:17.200 --> 01:46:20.960
we all have
different political opinions.
01:46:21.520 --> 01:46:25.560
When I got arrested, one of them said:
\"They\'re torturing Nerea!\",
01:46:25.720 --> 01:46:30.680
to which one of my friends replied:
\"She must\'ve done something.\"
01:46:34.000 --> 01:46:37.800
My dad, for example,
suffered from paranoid psychosis.
01:46:39.200 --> 01:46:43.080
He was diagnosed with it
when I was eight or nine.
01:46:43.840 --> 01:46:45.880
So 20 years
after all of this happened.
01:46:46.520 --> 01:46:49.520
I was very young,
but you pick up on things,
01:46:50.400 --> 01:46:53.840
and when I was eleven or twelve,
01:46:54.000 --> 01:46:56.520
I was aware of what had happened
01:46:56.960 --> 01:46:59.080
and put the pieces together.
01:46:59.240 --> 01:47:03.520
But there was no place
to talk about it.
01:47:03.680 --> 01:47:07.520
I couldn\'t talk to him and didn\'t want
to pressure him either.
01:47:09.040 --> 01:47:10.560
Haizea,
01:47:11.600 --> 01:47:13.680
is it hard for you to ask Iseko?
01:47:14.600 --> 01:47:17.760
Yes, because when I did,
I wouldn\'t get an answer.
01:47:21.400 --> 01:47:23.400
Why didn\'t he talk about it?
01:47:25.800 --> 01:47:28.440
Because saying that...
01:47:29.960 --> 01:47:32.080
I knew I\'d have to tell her.
01:47:32.240 --> 01:47:33.680
I explained it to her:
01:47:33.840 --> 01:47:37.280
\"It\'s not that I didn\'t want
to tell you, I just couldn\'t.\"
01:47:38.520 --> 01:47:41.520
How do you explain all of that
to someone?
01:47:41.680 --> 01:47:43.920
If you start digging too deep...
01:47:45.680 --> 01:47:48.200
you\'ll uncover some ugly truths.
01:47:50.280 --> 01:47:51.880
But, Bego...
01:47:53.320 --> 01:47:55.320
you can talk about it now.
01:47:56.200 --> 01:47:59.240
-This is the time to...
-Yes, I\'m trying.
01:48:01.160 --> 01:48:03.920
Well, whenever you\'re ready.
Distributor: Pragda Films
Length: 113 minutes
Date: 2022
Genre: Expository
Language: Spanish; Basque
Grade: High School, College, Adult
Color/BW:
Closed Captioning: Available
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