Since the exposure of police infiltration in social movements across Spain, Sira has provided support and assessments, using the Istanbul Protocol, to virtually all of the victims. These are some of the impacts that Pau Pérez, the organization's clinical director, summarized in the Parliament of Catalonia.
Pau Pérez Sales appeared last Thursday, February 15, before the "Commission of Investigation on the Infiltration of State Police Officers into Social, Political and Popular Movements Throughout the Country" of the Parliament of Catalonia. The clinical director of the Sira Center, in his capacity as an expert, presented some of the impacts found after evaluating virtually all the people directly affected by police infiltrations throughout Spain, through the Istanbul Protocol. Activists in various social and popular movements – mostly women – who had established militant, friendly and sexually affective relationships with undercover police agents, who were seeking to obtain privileged information.
Since these actions were uncovered by media, The Sira Center has accompanied virtually all of the victims, and provided various expert reports as tools for their defense.
Impacts of police infiltrations
Among the most serious psychological impacts are depressive episodes, panic attacks, and insomnia. Of all the people evaluated, 70% reported having had suicidal thoughts at some point. In 90% cases, these thoughts were linked to shame, the humiliations suffered, or a clear sense of the "irreversibility of the harm.".
Likewise, the victims also present with issues of rejection or discomfort with their bodies and/or episodes of bulimia or anorexia. Between 72% and 85%, they report having suffered a loss of self-esteem, as well as a severe deterioration of their self-image. In 40% of those evaluated, obsessive behaviors are also identified, such as the need to clean or reorganize spaces shared with the undercover agents, such as the house or bedroom, because they consider these places contaminated. The majority of those examined present feelings of guilt and attribute responsibility for what happened to themselves, something that is common in the context of sexual assault.
Of those interviewed, three cannot understand how the police could resort to something as intimate as personal relationships to obtain information. "It was clearly unnecessary harm... why did they do it? Why did they cause me gratuitous harm that made no sense in relation to what they were supposed to be ordered to do?" one of them points out.
The 70%
Of those affected, 90% reports having had suicidal thoughts at some point. In most cases, these thoughts are linked to shame, the humiliations suffered, or a clear sense of the "irreversibility of the damage.".
Between the 72% and 85%
Those affected report having suffered a loss of self-esteem, as well as a severe deterioration in their self-image. The victims also experience problems with rejection or discomfort with their bodies and/or episodes of bulimia or anorexia.
Sick leave
Of the total number of women interviewed, four had to request sick leave. Some experienced a significant decline in their academic performance as a result of rumination and anxiety. Others had difficulty continuing to perform their jobs.
Feelings of humiliation
Almost all of the women interviewed reported a significant decrease in their casual relationships as a result of the infiltrations. There is a widespread feeling of humiliation and a direct attack on their dignity. All of them understand that, through this deception, they were forced to act against their own convictions. They maintain that they would never have had sexual relations with the undercover agents if they had known who they really were.
»"With this person who doesn't exist, there was consent. But since they don't exist, I didn't give consent, and if I had, it would have been for a person who doesn't exist. Consent to a being that doesn't exist. There is no consent," one of the women examined asserts.
»"They have used your understanding of sex, love, and your emotions against you."
Victim of torture
Among his conclusions, Pau Pérez Sales states in Parliament that there is a high degree of consistency between the facts alleged by individuals and their impacts. expert report The Sira Center concludes that people affected by police infiltration in social and popular movements throughout the State should be considered victims of torture, and police officers as perpetrators, since there is evidence of a conscious action – aimed at accessing information – generating serious psychological impacts.
The individuals examined present serious clinical and ontological trauma resulting from the direct actions of public officials. The police followed a deliberate and conscious strategy—as evidenced by their operational patterns and their targeting of social movements perceived as "disruptive." Taking all these elements into account, the experts from the Sira Center conclude that these acts may constitute torture under international standards.
On the other hand, Pau Pérez Sales also emphasizes that police infiltrations have not only individual but also collective consequences. From a psychosocial perspective, social, community, and grassroots movements throughout the country also suffer from distrust, a "discouragement effect" regarding institutional spaces and political and social participation, and a reluctance to continue participating in these spaces. The expert from the Sira Center concludes that, through these actions, the State sends a warning message: grassroots social movements are considered "pro-terrorist groups," making them targets of surveillance.
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