Gaps podcast
Stories to Accompany Us – is a project of the communications department of the Sira Center. Here you will find the stories of some of the people we support at the organization, people affected by different forms of violence, in diverse historical moments and contexts, who have made words an act of resistance and defense.
We accompany people to regain control of their lives and stand up for the truth of their stories.
Chapter I
On September 15, 2023, after more than six years of legal battles in Spain and over 100 lawsuits filed, Julio Pacheco and Rosa García became the first people to testify in court about the torture they suffered during the Franco regime. In August 1975, both were tortured at the General Directorate of Security in Madrid by various members of the Political-Social Brigade, the Franco regime's political police.
Almost 50 years later, her words, which are also those of so many others, serve to open a breach in the Spanish judicial system.
Chapter II
Omar entered Zuera prison in Zaragoza in 2016. He spent almost three years there in pretrial detention in solitary confinement—that is, completely alone in a cell—accused of indoctrination and glorification of terrorism. Omar entered prison healthy and left with a recognized disability of almost 801% of his age. In 2023, after several years of legal battles, the National Court ordered Spain to compensate his family in a landmark ruling. This is his story.
Chapter III
Carles Guillot and Ester Quintana lost an eye in very similar circumstances. Both were struck by a rubber bullet fired by a police officer while exercising their right to protest. In their long legal battle to identify those responsible, they found the necessary support from their colleagues, friends, family, and civil society, not only to demand justice and reparations from the State, but also a ban on these imprecise yet lethal weapons. Since 2000, one person has been killed by a direct hit from a rubber bullet, and eleven others have lost sight in one eye.
Chapter IV
They knew him as Dani. They knew him as Sergio. But neither Dani nor Sergio ever existed. The women in this story shared activism, friendship, and even a home with someone who turned out to be an undercover police officer. And they weren't the only ones. In various social movements across the country, many believed they were building real connections—emotional, political, or even romantic relationships—with people who weren't who they claimed to be. These are the consequences of police infiltration. And also, the ways to resist it.
With the complicity and support of:
