CAT/C/29/D/193/2001
page 3
The facts as submitted
2.1
In November 1996,2 the complainant was arrested in the Landes region in the company
of her partner, Juan Luis Agirre Lete, during a French customs check, and placed in pre-trial
detention in Paris. Following her arrest, she was sentenced to 30 months’ imprisonment
on 23 February 1999 on charges of participating in a conspiracy as an alleged member of the
Basque separatist organization, Euskadi Ta Askatasuna (ETA).3
2.2
As soon as she was arrested, in November 1996, the Spanish authorities made a first
request for her extradition, but the request was later withdrawn on grounds of mistaken identity.
A second request for extradition was lodged by the Spanish authorities a year later, alleging
cooperation with an armed group, on the basis of evidence that was claimed to be questionable
but was given a favourable reception by the French authorities.
2.3
A third request for extradition4 was lodged by Spain on the basis of a statement made by
a certain Mikel Azurmendi Penagarikano, who was arrested in Seville on 21 March 1998 by the
Spanish Civil Guard and who is alleged to have suffered a variety of treatments in breach of the
Convention while being held. The complainant adds that Mr. Azurmendi’s partner was arrested
at the same time as he was and also suffered treatment in breach of the Convention.
2.4
While in custody, Mikel Azurmendi is reported to have made two statements under
duress to the Civil Guard on 23 and 24 March 1998. In these statements, which are said to
contain many contradictions and implausibilities, the complainant was implicated, with
some 30 others, as a member of ETA’s “Madrid Commando”, and accused of carrying out,
together with others, surveillance and checks on the route taken in Madrid by a van belonging to
the general staff of the Spanish air force, with the aim of carrying out an act of violence, and of
participating, together with others, in the preparation of an explosive device placed on board a
vehicle that was used by other members of the commando in an attempted act of violence
on 25 January 1994. The complainant nevertheless maintains that she had long since left Madrid
at the time of the events.
2.5
Concerning the circumstances in which these statements were made, the complainant
produces an excerpt from Mr. Azurmendi’s testimony:
I am writing this letter to you to denounce the treatment inflicted by the Spanish security
forces, more specifically the Civil Guard, at the time of my arrest (in Seville), and during
the transfer to the Madrid station and my stay there. Concerning my arrest, it occurred on
José Laquillo Street, No. 5, first floor, door B. They immobilized me and handcuffed me,
they didn’t stop rubbing my nose in the dirt, they beat me and continuously threatened
me. After having read me my rights, one person (a prison inspection judge) ordered them
to change my handcuffs. They did so in front of him and just after taking me down to the
car, they put other handcuffs on me, tightening them as much as possible, hurting my
wrists and causing injuries which are still visible. They only took them off once we
arrived at the police cells. Apart from the pain caused by the handcuffs, they beat me on
the head and the ribs, and squeezed my testicles; they pretended to fire a gun, pressing
the barrel against my head and firing several times. They beat me to the point of causing
a sprained ankle. All that happened during the journey from Seville to Madrid.