Mikel Zabalza's Tragic Death and the Search for Justice

Born Mikel Zabalza Garate in San Sebastian, at the age of 33, he worked as a bus driver for the San Sebastian Municipal Trolley Service. On November 26, 1985, he was detained by the Spanish Civil Guard in San Sebastián. The operation took place the day after ETA had carried out a deadly attack. Mikel's partner, Idoia Ajerdi, his cousin Manuel Vizcay, and the student Ion Arretxe were also detained during the same operation. All four claimed to have been tortured during their 8 days in detention.

Mikel's case was never successfully prosecuted in the courts. In 1988, a post-mortem revealed that Mikel had been beaten, with the cause of death being asphyxia. Nineteen days after initial detention, his body was found in the river Bidasoa. The case was reopened in 2021, after a recording of a conversation between Juan Alberto Perote and Pedro Gómez Nieto was published. They discussed the torture methods used and the fact that Mikel's death was covered up.

Sources: Wikipedia, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons