Torture methods used by Spanish Police Forces
Source: www.behatokia.info
GUARDIA CIVIL
This police force stood out during 2002 for the large number of citizens it has
arrested, kept incommunicado and tortured; and for the brutality of the
treatment the detainees suffered, both physically and psychologically. For this
study, we have included 14 testimonies of women and 45 testimonies of men. All
the people arrested by this police force recount that the have been subjected to
shouting during their whole time under arrest, shouting that was constant and in
nearly all cases by more than one agent at the same time.
Visual impairment has been common practice in all cases, whether by placing a hood on the detainee, a blindfold, or by making the detainee keep his or her head down and eyes shut. This visual impairment usually begins at the point when the detainee is put in the car and lasts the whole incommunicado detention.
They have also told us of constant threats. Among these we can underline threats against loved ones (family, friends, partner, threats about arresting them and torturing them and/or killing them…) threats against the detainees themselves: threatening to take them to the hills and killing them, rape threats, threats about other types of torture (the bag, the bath, electrodes, going on to a more intense torture stage”…) threats about their going to prison, forcing the detainee to hold a gun and then telling them they have the detainee’s prints, threats about the detainee’s child (taking away custody…).
There have also been accounts of numerous blows and beatings. Blows to the head both with the torturers hands and with various objects (phone books, rolled up newspapers, sticks wrapped up in some kind of material, sometimes the area being beaten would be covered with a blanket…), slaps in the face, blows to the stomach, kicks to the stomach, ribs, head, pulling the detainee’s hair, blows to the pubic area. These beatings were in many cases to the point where the detainee would fall unconscious, and which continued in this state.
It must be underlined that all the people arrested by this police force have told us the were subjected to all kinds of sexual abuse, both verbal and physical. Nine of the fourteen women told us they were stripped naked in the police station, and while naked they have suffered all kinds of abuse: groping, rape threats (by the guardias civiles themselves or using various objects such as sticks, truncheons, vibrators…), threats of making them pregnant or of damaging them so as to make them barren, staging rape while they moved obscenely against her, or touching her body with various objects, threats to place electrodes on their genitals, forcing them to touch themselves, forcing them to touch the guardias civiles’ genitals, placing pliers on a detainee’s nipples and turning them round… And one of the women told us how while she was on her back on the ground, blindfolded, they placed what she believes to be one of the torturer’s penis in her mouth. The threats, insults and humiliations they have been subjected to have been numerous: infecting them with AIDS, making her pregnant, giving her already opened tampons when a detainee had the period, telling her they were getting “horny”, insulting them about their bodies, “you’re fat, ugly, I won’t rape you because you disgust me…” etc. As for the men, sexual abuses have also been numerous and persistent. Through the enforced nudity of nearly all of them during interrogation, through touching them with various objects (sticks, chair legs…) threatening to rape them, even carrying these threats out in seven detainees’ cases, where they were raped by putting a stick into their anus and in one case a torturer put his finger up the detainee’s anus.
In order to obtain physical exhaustion of the detainees, in many case they have been made to remain on their feet, facing the wall, for hours, even days, without sitting down, lying down or sleeping; and with their head down, both during interrogation and the time they spent in the cells. The detainees have told us how they have been forced to do press-ups to the point of extenuation, in some cases standing up and crouching down with their hands up, sit-ups, etc. The detainees have recounted how they have often suffered suffocation, by means of a bag placed over their head, while in different postures: in some cases they were on their feet, other times on a chair, with their arms tied to it. On other occasions their body was wrapped in a blanket, they were thrown on the floor, and while some guardias civiles held them, others placed the bag over their heads and tightened it to the point of asphyxia, in most cases while they faced down. In other instances they were made to lay down on a foam rubber mattress an they were then covered with another mattress with some guardias civiles sitting or standing on them while others placed the bag over their head. In numerous cases they have told us how they even lost consciousness and defecated and/or urinated on themselves, subsequently having to keep the same dirty clothes on for the duration of detention. Two detainees (a man and a woman) told us that they were subjected to asphyxia using the method known as the bath, while they were in the quarters at Intxaurrondo, their heads being put into a bucket with water, in one case, and in the other case, their head being put into a toilet and then flushing it. There have also been people who suffered electrodes being placed in various parts of their bodies, while naked and after having been wet with cold water. Electrodes were applied to various sensitive parts of the body such as the backside, arms and ears, penis, nipples… And the majority of detainees have recounted having been threatened with using electrodes on them, in some cases even suffering staged use of electrodes, their body was wet and they were made to hold wires in their hands or place them on their feet. They have also recounted having been subjected to staged executions. In some cases, guns were put to their head, or to their face, while the torturer pulled the trigger; in other instances the detainees were told they were being taken to the hills, the car would be stopped and they would be told they had a certain amount of time to run. In the instances when a couple has been arrested, threats about the partner have been constant, they have been made to hear their screams, they have been used for blackmailing the other partner.Sudden temperature changes; being stripped and left by an open window, having cold water poured over their body… There have also been those who, in the various interrogation sessions, played the “good cop” and “bad cop” roles. There have been several cases where the detainees recounted having suffered hallucinations in police premises, seeing strange things, shapes coming out of the wall, animals…
POLICIA NACIONAL
The number of arrests made by this police force has not been as large as that by
the other police forces operating in the Basque Country. We have 20 testimonies
or accounts of torture by those arrested, incommunicated and tortured by this
police force.
From the torture methods the majority of those arrested by the Policia Nacional recounted, we can see there is a combination of physical ill treatment and psychological methods. Among the most frequently employed methods, we find constant shouting right from the beginning, threats, especially regarding tougher torture methods such as using the bag, electrodes, threats about the detainees’ loved ones (arresting them, ruining their life…) about going to prison, death threats, threats about rape…
The detainees suffer visual impairment right from the beginning, whether by being made to keep their head down and eyes shut or by placing an item of their own clothing over their head, or by placing a hood over their head. During the constant questioning they suffer, the postures they are made to adopt seek their physical exhaustion, sometimes making the detainees remain on their feet for hours (even during the time in the cell), crouching or with the entire weight of their body on their forefingers.
The blows they suffer are also constant; blows to the head, both with open hands and with various objects, rolled up phone books, pulling their hair, shoves, blows on their ears, blows to the neck, on the genitals, kidneys, stomach, kicks to their feet, shins… One detainee was made to lay on a table with the upper half of his body hanging down, they placed his T-shirt over his head, suffocating him while they beat him on the testicles.
The detainees have also reported having suffered constant temperature changes, from cold to the heat of the interrogation room back to the cell and cold, and sleep deprivation, by having the light in the cell constantly on. They have also suffered sexual abuse, such as being made to remain naked, and being threatened with rape (“we are going to rip your rectum”). The detainees have also recounted staged executions.
ERTZAINTZA
As far as the treatment suffered by those arrested by the Ertzaintza (we have 26
reports of ill treatment), we find that there has been an increase both in the
quantity and in the nature of the treatment dispensed to those arrested and
subjected to incommunication. Up to now, we had observed how the treatment
suffered by detainees at the hands of the Ertzaintza was mainly characterized by
psychological ill treatment, with few cases of physical ill treatment, but we
find that they have combined both methods, increasing physical ill treatment.
Among the methods of torture those arrested by the Ertzaintza have reported, we find that they have concentrated on obtaining the physical exhaustion of the detainees, by making them remain in abnormal postures during the days of incommunicado arrest. Among the postures described, are the following: being forced to remain on their feet with legs spread and arms outstretched, in the shape of a cross, or with their arms above the head; standing with legs straight and torso bent over; standing with arms stretched out behind, torso bent over, head bent down and flexed knees; on their feet with knees flexed, arms stretched out behind and backside sticking out; spread legs and knees flexed, torso completely bent over with their head between their knees, and the ertzainas leaning on their back and pressing the detainees’ thighs with their legs. Kneeling down, crouching, standing on one leg. The detainees have also told us how they were made to do press-ups. The obligation to remain in the said positions would last both throughout interrogation (which were many, long, and constant), and during the time spent in the cells (the ertzainas would go to the cells and look through the spy-hole and if the detainee was not in the position they would be threatened); this would last until the detainees could not keep the position any longer and fell over with exhaustion, then they would be put back in the same positions, and would not be allowed to rest at any time; they would not be allowed to sit down, lay down or sleep. They were also made to walk bent over whenever they were moved anywhere.
The detainees have also reported they were subjected to all kinds of sexual abuse while they were in the said postures: nudity, groping all over the body, touching their genitals, backside, even underneath their clothes, feeling them up with various objects while threatening them with rape. In one instance a detainee was made to lean on a table while the ertzainas simulated raping him. One of the detainees even dropped his trousers thinking that “at least the bottle is small”. There was also abuse by moving obscenely against the detainee as well as pulling the detainees’ testicles and threatening to arrest and rape detainees’ sisters, mother or girlfriend.
Detainees have also reported being beaten until they lost consciousness. Somne have recounted having suffered widespread blows, to the head with hands, with a book, against the wall, punches in the stomach and back, blows on the ribs, kicks to the ankles, feet and knees, slapping on the ears, pulling their head backwards by the hair and forwards by the ears, the ertzainas would press in with their fingers on various parts of the body while they said it was a method often used by the Guardia Civil, which did not leave marks. They have also told us how, while they were made to remain in the various positions, the ertzainas would beat the cupboards, tables and walls, even throwing chairs against the wall beside them. Due to the blows and abnormal postures many of the detainees have had to be taken to hospital, with various injuries; bizipital tendonitis, sprained ankle…
The threats by the ertzainas have been constant; threats against the detainees and against their loved ones, parents, brothers and sisters, girlfriend… Threats such as “you are going to leave this place with your feet in front; we’re going to dump you in a ditch with a shot in the head; give me the gun, let’s kill him” (while they put something to his head simulating a gun); threats about the detainees’ girlfriends, “we are going to bring your mother and girlfriend in and we’re going to rape them with a truncheon”, and the ertzainas have even blackmailed the detainees, showing them arrest orders for their girlfriends. They have also threatened detainees by placing a gun to their head.
Reports also include visual impairment, either by making them face the wall at all times, with their head down and their eyes shut, or by covering their head with towels or rags every time they were moved from one place to another. Insults and humiliations were constant: ertzaina murderer, bastard, son of a bitch, retard…The detainees have suffered all kinds of sound abuse such as shouting in their ear, blows to their ears… Music would be constantly played at full volume, especially every time interrogation began. Detainees have also suffered sleep deprivation. The light in the cells would be permanently on, on occasion, during interrogation, the lights would be switched off while the ertzainas made noises, banging the cupboards, the walls…Temperature changes: it was hot in the interrogation room, the detainees would sweat and in the cells it was cold and they would not be allowed to touch the blankets.
They were given something to drink that was not water, and in some cases this cause them a kind of dizziness, while several suffered hallucinations: seeing smoke coming out of the walls, images coming out of the walls like windows…
The detainees have also reported that they could hear other detainees’ screaming and weeping in the police station, even hearing the voices, screams or sobs of relatives who were not in the police station.
METHODS OF TORTURE
According to the UN, in the first article of the Convention against Torture
and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment: “For the purposes
of this Convention, the term “torture” means any act by which severe pain or
suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person
for such purposes as obtaining from him or a third person information or a
confession, punishing him for an act he or a third person has committed or is
suspected of having committed, or intimidating or coercing him or a third
person, or for any reason based on discrimination of any kind, when such pain or
suffering is inflicted by or at the instigation of or with the consent or
acquiescence of a public official or other person acting in an official
capacity. It does not include pain or suffering arising only from, inherent in
or incidental to lawful sanctions”.
Following this universally adopted definition, when we talk about torture we are referring to serious suffering inflicted upon a person, whether these are physical or psychological, when they are inflicted by a public official or a person carrying out public functions.
The torture methods used against Basque citizens under incommunicado arrest have been scientifically devised in order to obtain the set objectives. The experience of torture involves a process of questioning one’s own identity. The methods have varied throughout the years. Currently, more sophisticated methods are used, in an attempt to avoid leaving marks on the surface of the body that may be detected in a medical examination. Thus, we have observed an increase in the use of so-called psychological techniques.
Methods of torture have usually been classified into physical and psycological methods. The former are those that imply physical abuse and/or causing physical suffering. Psychological methods are those which, without physical abuse, produce an alteration in the psychological state of a person. However, the fact that any physical suffering carries psychological suffering with it must be taken into account; and that many methods of torture can be considered as combined methods, and further, that usually several techniques are simultaneously used against a person. Among the most prominent methods, we can find the following:1.BLOWS: This is the abuse most reported by the detainees. Generally, they report that the blows they suffer are widespread, and these may be with hands, fists, or various objects such as rolled up newspapers, phone books, sticks covered with newspapers or insulating tape… These blows are usually applied to various sensitive parts of the body, such as the head, stomach, legs, arms… Sometimes the blows are directly applied and on other occasions the part of the body to be beaten is covered with blankets etc. all this is in order not to leave marks on the body of the detainee.
2. PHYSICAL EXHAUSTION: Causing physical extenuation to the detainee is a method that is used with more and more intensity, generally by obliging the detainee to remain on his or her feet for hours, even days, and this year we have noted the increase of the obligation to take up and remain in abnormal postures, especially by the Ertzaintza. Physical exhaustion of the detainee is also obtained by making him or her do physical exercises such as press-ups, sit-ups etc.
3. THE BAG: A technique whereby the detainee is deprived of oxygen for a certain period, to the extent that detainees often pass out. This method consists in putting a bag over the detainee’s head and tightening it round the neck, causing suffocation. There are accounts by detainees where they say how at the point of asphyxia, they had the feeling of dying, to the point that they lost control of their sphincters.
4. THE BATH: This is another suffocation technique, a torture method that had not been used in the last few years, but which has come up twice in 2002. one of the detainees told us they put her head in a bucket full of water, leaving her in a state of semi-consciousness, lying on the floor. Another detainee told us how they had put his head in the toilet, while they flushed it.
5. ELECTRODES: This method of torture consists in applying electric shocks to different parts of the body, usually in sensitive areas such as the sides of the torso, ears, genitals, wrists, feet, breasts…
6. VISUAL IMPAIRMENT: It is more and more widespread among all police forces to make it impossible for the detainee to see, in this way amplifying their feeling of helplessness and disorientation. This visual impairment can be produced by blindfolding or placing a hood over the detainee’s head (usually in the case of arrests by the Guardia Civil) or by obliging the detainees to keep their head down and their eyes shut.
7. THREATS, SHOUTING, HUMILIATIONS: The detainees often tell us how they heard the screams of people who had been arrested with them, or of members of their family or friends whom the police taking part in interrogation had threatened to arrest, torture or rape. Generally, the threats they report to us refer to themselves (threats about using various methods of torture, death threats…) or to their loved ones.
8. SEXUAL ABUSE: This year we have found, through the various accounts that have reached us, that the amount of sexual abuse and aggression has increased considerably, both in the case of women and men. It is the usual norm that detainees are made to partially or fully strip and sometimes take up abusive postures, and that is when sexual abuse takes place. It takes several forms, verbal (threats, humiliations, insults, rape threats), through violence against sexual organs (blows or placing electrodes on them), compulsory nakedness, being groped, obscene movements by the interrogator, even to the point of rape by the Guardia Civil, putting a stick into several male detainees’ anuses, and putting what a female detainee believed to be one of the torturers’ penises in her mouth.
9. STAGED EXECUTIONS: Many of the detainees tell how the torturers threatened to kill them, whether in police premises or during the journey to these premises. There are accounts that tell how at times the simulated execution consists in placing a firearm to the detainee’s head, face, etc. and pulling the trigger. Other detainees tell how on the way to the police station, the officers would stop the car making them get out and they were told they would be given a certain amount of time to run, while the police made constant references to Basque citizens that have been found dead in the hills in suspicious circumstances.
10. GOOD COP, BAD COP: This technique is often used by the various police forces. They manage to completely disorientate the detainee by passing from a state of alert in the middle of infinite brutality to a semi-calm state with another “nice” officer.
11. CONSTANT INTERROGATION: The detainees tell recount how the questioning they suffered was constant, with hardly any time to rest or sleep.
12. MAKING THE DETAINEE LISTEN TO OTHER DETAINEES’ AND/OR FAMILY MEMBERS’ OR FRIENDS’ SCREAMS: In more than one account we have found that the detainees tell us how they have heard the screams of pain and suffering, and the weeping of other people who were also under incommunicado arrest. And in the case of the Ertzaintza they say they have heard the voices of their loved ones, as if they were also in police premises.