The Diplomat
A delegation of the European Parliament’s Petitions Committee is visiting Spain from today until November 5 to investigate 379 unsolved murders committed by the terrorist organization ETA.
The delegation will be chaired by MEP Agnès Evren (EPP, France), and composed of MEPs Alex Agius Saliba (S&D, Malta), Vlad Gheorghe (Renew, Romania) and Kosma Złotowski (CRE, Poland). They will also be accompanied by Spanish MEPs Dolors Montserrat (EPP), chair of the Petitions Committee; Cristina Maestre (S&D), Maite Pagazaurtundúa (Renew) and Jorge Buxadé (CRE).
The visit will begin today in Vitoria, where the MEPs will visit the Memorial Center for the Victims of Terrorism and meet with Florencio Domínguez Iribarren, director of the institution, as reported yesterday by the Office of the European Parliament in Spain in a press release.
The MEPs will then travel to Madrid, where they will meet tomorrow with the petitioner, Miguel Ángel Rodríguez Arias, and the president of the Dignity and Justice Association, Daniel Portero de la Torre. They will then meet with representatives of the State Security Forces Valentín Díaz, head of the Department of Information of the Ministry of the Interior; Eugenio Pereiro, general commissioner of Information of the National Police; and Montserrat Torija, general director of Support for Victims of Terrorism.
The delegation will also meet with members of the judiciary Antonio del Moral, magistrate of the Criminal Chamber of the Supreme Court; Concepción Espejel Jorquera, president of the Criminal Chamber of the National High Court; Juan Pablo González-Herrero, president of the Provincial Court of Madrid; Jesús Alonso, chief prosecutor of the National High Court (to be confirmed); and Marcelo de Azcárraga, prosecutor specializing in terrorism cases of the National High Court (to be confirmed).
In the afternoon, members of the delegation will meet with victims and representatives of victims of terrorism, including the president of the Victims of Terrorism Foundation, Tomás Caballero; the president of the Association of Victims of Terrorism, María Teresa Araluce; the president of the Collective of Victims of Terrorism (COVITE), Consuelo Ordóñez; and victims of terrorism Antonio Salvá, Ana Isabel Ortigosa, Luis Heredero, Vichy Uriarte and Alvaro and Pablo Ryan.
On Friday, November 5, the delegation of the European Parliament’s Petitions Committee will meet with members of the Ombudsman’s Office, Andrés Jiménez Rodríguez, Director of Security and Justice of the Ombudsman, and Martín Alonso Zarza, former member of the Bakeaz Peace School. Following these meetings, the delegation will hold a press conference for the media at 10.00 a.m. at the European Parliament Office in Spain.
