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Law; Spain Controversial award to "victim of terrorism"

01 March 2003

On 12 March 2003 the Spanish Supreme Court rejected an appeal by the Basque Nationalist Party (Partido Nacionalista Vasco, PNV) against an award "of civil recognition for the victims of terrorism" granted to Melitón Manzanas on 19 January 2001 as a result of his shooting by ETA on 2 August 1968 (see Statewatch vol 11 no 1). The law on victims of terrorism decrees that the families of those granted the award should receive 138,000 Euros compensation. Manzanas was head of the political police (Brigada Politico-Social) in San Sebastian, renowned as a symbol of repression in the Basque Country under general Franco.
The award, made in 2001, outraged left and nationalist parties, with the PNV calling for the award to apply from the start of the democratic regime in 1975, rather than 1 January 1968, during the dictatorship. Different groups, including the PNV and the United Left (Izquierda Unida), appealed against the decision. The Supreme Court heard testimony from persons who were tortured by Manzanas who described the award as "an insult to citizens", and explained that "kicks, slaps and truncheon blows" were part of his interrogation tactics, as well as the "bag" placed over prisoners' heads to make them struggle for breath.
Manzanas' award was confirmed by the Supreme Court based on his killing by a terrorist group, which was not in question, and is the "only objective criteria" for granting the award. Furthermore, it appealed to a spirit of national reconciliation as a foundation of Spanish democracy:
One of the basic pillars of our democracy is that it has allowed the integration of all those who have accepted democratic principles, without any memory of their previous life trajectory from a political perspective.
Thus, according to the Supreme Court, it would be unfair to deprive Manzanas of the award, because his "death at the hands of terrorists" deprived him of the option of "accepting democratic values", in the same way as "the immense majority of Spanish people had". The Supreme Court also noted the important contribution made by "personalities of considerable political importance in the previous regime" to Spanish democracy.
El País, 16.1.03, 13.3.03, 1.4.03.