Communication No. 212/2002 Submitted by: Mr. Kepa Urra Guridi (represented by counsel, Mr. Didier Rouget) Alleged victim: The complainant State party: Spain Date of complaint: 8 February 2002 The Committee against Torture, established under article 17 of the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, Meeting on 17 May 2005, Having concluded its consideration of complaint No. 212/2002, submitted to the Committee against Torture by Mr. Kepa Urra Guridi under article 22 of the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, Having taken into account all information made available to it by the complainant, his counsel and the State party, Adopts the following decision under article 22, paragraph 7, of the Convention. 1. The complainant, submitted on 8 February 2002, is Kepa Urra Guridi, a Spanish national born in 1956. He alleges that he is a victim of a violation by Spain of articles 2, 4 and 14 of the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. The complainant is represented by counsel, Mr. Didier Rouget. The facts as submitted 2.1 On 22 January 1992, the Spanish Civil Guard launched a police operation in Vizcaya Province to dismantle the so-called “Bizkaia combat unit” of the organization Euskadi Ta Askatasuna (ETA). In all, 43 people were arrested between then and 2 April 1992; many of them have reportedly been tortured and held incommunicado. The complainant was arrested on 22 January 1992 by Civil Guard officers as part of these operations. 2.2 The complainant alleges that, in the course of his transfer to the Civil Guard station, the officers took him to open ground where they subjected him to severe abuse. He was stripped, handcuffed, dragged along the ground and beaten. He states that after six hours of interrogation, he had to be taken to hospital because his pulse rate was very high, he could not speak, he was exhausted and unconscious, and was bleeding from his mouth and nose. The hospital doctors ascertained that he had injuries to his head, face, eyelids, nose, back, stomach, hip, arms and legs. He also had a neck injury which left him unable to move. The complainant maintains that this serious ill-treatment can be categorized as torture within the meaning of article 1 of the Convention. 147