Alleged police ill-treatment of non-political detainees in the Basque Country (Spain). Prevalence and associated factors

Abstract

Epidemiological studies of ill-treatment and torture are difficult to carry out and are usually based on people arrested for political motives. The object of this prospective study was to document the prevalence of allegations of ill-treatment/torture in a sample of detainees who were arrested for non-political motives in the Basque Country (Spain). The influence of demographic and criminological variables was evaluated. A total of 837 interviews and medical-forensic examinations of 578 detainees were analyzed with a modified version of the protocol established by the Rehabilitation and Research Centre for Torture Victims (IRCT/RCT). Alleged ill-treatment occurred with a frequency of 13.3% in 99 subjects, with few cases being considered as torture in the strict sense. The most frequent methods included: coercion (6.8%), deprivation (6.0%) and physical ill-treatment (4.3%). The variables significantly associated with ill-treatment were national/ethnic identity and the type of offence committed by the detainee. A higher frequency of ill-treatment, together with longer periods of detention were observed among foreign detainees. The results contrast with those reported in a study of political detainees in the same region, in which complex and intensive torture methods were reported to be more habitual. In conclusion, this study underlines the importance of further developing preventative methods in order to reduce the occurrence of violations of human rights during periods of detention.