ULLA JELPKE, spokeswoman of the DIE LINKE parliamentary group on home politics and member of the Self determination Network Gernika.

Last 18th December 2008, Ulla Jelpke (Die Linke), member of the Self determination Network Gernika, posed a question with the title "Folter im Spanichen Staat'' (Torture in the Spanish State) to the German Federal Government on behalf of DIE LINKE.

Based on Amnesty International Report from the beginning of November 2008, which warns the Spanish State to fulfill the advices by the United Nations Human Rights Council published on 27th October 2008, the reports by the CPT of the Council of Europe and the denounces by the Coordinating Committee to Prevent Torture and TAT (Group against Torture), Ulla Jelpke demanded the Federal Government to clarify the situation of the arrested by the Spanish State.

Ulla Jelpke also reminded that Basque political and social agents who are arrested, more than 750 political prisoners, undergo solitary confinement and dispersion.

The German Government was also asked its opinion about the inclusion of political and social organizations, such as Batasuna or Gestoras pro-Amnistia (Management groups for amnesty), or Basque activists in the EU list of terrorists and terrorists groups.

Finally, as there are clear evidences that the Spanish authorities break human rights, she asked the German Federal Government to consider what kind of juridical-security relationship it should have with the Spanish State.

The German Government answered that it knows all the reports on torture by international organizations and NGOs, but that Spain has signed all the international treaties on human rights, so denounces of torture are a "non-systematic" problem of Spanish authorities.

This is the first time that Spain, a EU member state, is questioned in the German Bundestag on human rights.

Berlin, 12th January 2009
Press release by Ulla Jelpke: "The German Federal Government closes its eyes to torture cases in Spain''.

"The Federal Government closes its eyes to serious violations of human rights in the Spanish State (EU member). Thus, it encourages torturers in the Spanish police" stated Ulla Jelpke, spokeswoman of the DIE LINKE parliamentary group on home politics, about the answer of the German Federal Government to the question posed by DIE LINKE on "Torture in the Spanish State".( Form no. 16/11483)

Spanish human rights organizations denounce that Security Forces inflict torture regularly against social activists, particularly Basque activists. The United Nations Human Rights Council warned about permanent torture denounces of the Spanish security forces and about the lack of preventive measures against torture in the report on the "International Civil and Political Rights Agreement" of 27th October 2008.

Ulla Jelpke said the following about the answer by the Federal Government:
"The German Government, according to its statements, knows the reports by the United Nations Human Rights Committee, which denounces the tortures committed by Spanish Security Forces, and the CPT of the Council of Europe.
However, the German Government considers that "reports on tortures and ill-treatment are not a systematic problem of Spanish justice and authorities" and that "Spain fulfills all the standards on human rights'. The German Government states that "Spain -as well as the other EU members- fulfills and respects all human rights and rejects torture"

The German Government does not listen to the critics on violations of human rights in Spain and does not help to fight torture. We should not collaborate with torturing authorities in the framework of security and juridical relationship, not even in the so-called war against terror."

You can find the question and the answer by the Federal Government on:
www.ulla-jelpke.de