At least 4113 cases of torture practiced by the Guardia Civil, the Policia Nacional and the Ertzaintza, suffered by 3415 people, are proven according to the report on torture in the Basque Autonomous Region.

Furthermore, this report also states that “these statistics are below the real number of affected people”.

On the other hand, Euskal Memoria Foundation, in its “Investigation Report about the Torture in the Basque Country” records 5.657 verified torture cases affecting 4.643 people.


103 torture cases have been recognized (only 2,5%).

  • The judicial complaints that have achieved a condemnatory sentence are negligible (the rest were filed): only 31 people have been considered "victims of torture" by judicial sentences. It is, therefore, less than 0.9% of the cases (source: Report on torture in the Basque Autonomous Region).

  • On the other hand, the testimonies of torture of 72 people of between the years 1960 and 1978 have been recognized by the report “Saliendo del olvido (Coming out of oblivion)”.

The Spanish State has been declared guilty 12 times by international bodies (European Court of Human Rights, United Nations...) for not investigating the torture reports.