Marlaska will open a UN congress on terrorism criticized by victims: "They have not counted on us"

Both AVT and Dignidad y Justicia doubt the story about ETA's terrorism that will be offered in this international forum

MADRID, 25 Ago. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The Minister of the Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, will participate next September in the inauguration of the first edition of the Global Congress of Victims of Terrorism organized by the UN in New York, a forum that has been questioned by some groups of victims due to because the associations have been "ignored", hence they doubt the story that will be offered about ETA's terrorism.

In the absence of contact from the Ministry of the Interior, both the Victims of Terrorism Association (AVT) and Dignity and Justice (DyJ) fear the version that will be offered in the congress, especially with regard to prison policy for convicted of ETA terrorism and the pacts of the Executive of Pedro Sánchez with EH Bildu.

The congress will bring together experts and victims from different countries on September 8 and 9 at the UN headquarters in New York under the title "Advancing the rights and needs of victims of terrorism." Sources from the Ministry of the Interior consulted by Europa Press have indicated that the call comes from the Secretary General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres, resuming an initiative that was suspended in 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

According to these Interior sources, in addition to the speech at the opening session by Minister Marlaska, the congress panel will be completed within the Spanish delegation with the speech of the president of the Victims of Terrorism Foundation, Tomás Caballero, and Vera de Benito, as a victim of the 11-M attack on the Madrid trains.

The Spanish delegation includes among those attending the General Director of Attention to Victims of Terrorism, of the Ministry of the Interior, Montserrat Torija, and the director of the Memorial Center, Florencio Domínguez. According to Interior, the UN has also extended an invitation as assistants --not to intervene in the panels-- to victims' associations.

The global congress, the first to be held on this issue of assistance to victims of terrorism, was addressed in May at a United Nations conference on human rights held in Malaga, where Marlaska called for the "maximum political and social consensus" in this matter that allows, in turn, the "maximum effectiveness of the Rule of Law".

In statements to Europa Press, the director of the Association of Victims of Terrorism (AVT) and president of APAVT, Miguel Folguera, criticized the Interior for not having relied on the main associations to prepare the testimonies that will be offered at this UN forum, nor to travel to New York.

"We fear that the story is not true," Folguera maintained, claiming that with regard to ETA victims, they claim that collaboration with the Justice be required in open court proceedings, including the more than 300 cases without solve.

His criticism is also directed at the fact that the delegation that will travel to New York does not include representatives of the main groups of victims of terrorism, including the AVT, with 4,800 associates and more than 40 years of experience in care treatment. Folguera gives as an example that in the international congress recently organized by the Community of Madrid, different groups, both Spanish and from France or Belgium, did have a voice.

Interior sources point out that the invitation has been extended by the UN, which is the one who organizes the event, and that it has offered to go as assistants --without intervening in the panels-- to the main Spanish associations that are part of the patronage of Victims Foundation.

The AVT counselor also questions whether the film 'Maixabel' is going to be screened, since he understands that restorative meetings between ETA members and victims cannot be praised if they are not preceded by sincere repentance that involves collaboration with Justice.

It also recalls the criticism of the AVT for the pacts with EH Bildu --the last one, for the agreement on the Law of Democratic Memory-- or the approaches of the ETA prisoners and the granting of semi-liberties through progressions to third degrees, as well as that acts of homage and receptions for terrorists continue to be held.

"A false story or a reinterpretation of history only legitimizes terror and the use of violence; the true history of terrorism must be built with the stories of its victims," ​​says Folguera.

For the president of Dignity and Justice, Daniel Portero, both Marlaska and the Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, avoid agreeing with the victims' associations. "They are afraid that the victims will expose them to the world, we would raise our voices to highlight that the Government has one candle lit for God and another for the Devil," he said, referring to the pacts with EH Bildu.

"This government uses everything related to terrorism for its own electoral benefit: it brings prisoners closer but does nothing for the tens of thousands of Basques who had to flee the Basque Country due to threats from ETA, it gives orders to the Prosecutor's Office not to act against the leaders of the gang in cases such as that of Miguel Ángel Blanco, allies himself with the heirs of the terrorists in the Spanish Parliament, does not persecute the murderers who are hiding in South America and now ignores the victims", Portero commented on the UN congress.

Dignity and Justice shows its confidence in the Spanish Justice and vindicates the work that has already allowed the reopening of seven cases against the highest officials of ETA for ordering attacks. "As long as the terrorists do not collaborate for these clarifications, we will oppose any prison benefit," she recalled.

The program of the UN congress will address measures of recognition and memory; the importance of access to Justice; analysis of the changing nature of terrorism; the protection of the rights of victims of terrorism or the rehabilitation, assistance and support of this group.