Spain must investigate allegations of police torture says Amnesty International

Spain must investigate allegations of police torture says Amnesty International
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By m.p. - Nov 3, 2009 - 3:19 PM

The AI webpage in 2007 for the original report

A new report says only two of the cases highlighted by the organisation two years ago resulted in a conviction

A new report from Amnesty International released this Tuesday has concluded that allegations of police torture are not taken seriously by the authorities in Spain. The organisation claims that people alleging torture and other ill-treatment have been denied justice due to a ‘lack of political will’ to confront such abuse by members of the security forces.

Their report, ‘Spain: Adding insult to injury – police impunity two years on’, analyses the cases Amnesty reported on in 2007. Since then, they say, only two of the investigations opened into the 11 cases have resulted in a conviction. Two remain under investigation, while another six were closed without reaching trial.

In another case, while the court found that torture had taken place, the accused officers were acquitted as it was found to be impossible to identify which of the suspects had personally taken part in the assault.

Amnesty noted significant progress in regional forces in Cataluña and the Basque Country in implementing measures, such as increased use of CCTV cameras, to prevent torture taking place at police stations, but said that progress had not been matched on national level. They have called on the Spanish authorities to take action by reforming the current system of investigating allegations of torture and ill-treatment made by suspects held in custody by police.

El Mundo said the Interior Ministry had been sent a copy of the report but had yet to give their response to its content.

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