The NGO has presented new evidence that Montxo Martinez Antia was murdered

The Observatoryfor Human Rights has presented new evidence suggesting that Montxo Martínez Antia did not commit suicide and that he was murdered in Madrid on 18 September 1975, and has therefore asked the Minister of Justice and Human Rights of the Basque Government, María Jesús San José, to reevaluate the case so that Martínez Antia can be recognized as a victim of the State and the family can demand reparation.

In July 2015, the Basque Government rejected the family's request for recognition and approved the official Francoist version of suicide, arguing that the elements in the hands of the Assessment Commission did not allow any other conclusion to be drawn.

On March 3, 2015, coroner Francisco Etxeberria's report determined that it was possible to "carry out a new direct analysis" and thus "check the trajectory of the shot", at which point it was not possible to carry out such an examination and the Board rejected Martinez Antia's mother's request.

However, the NGO believes that the family has supported the murder thesis for 50 years and asked the NGO for a new evaluation in September 2024.

Proceedings conducted

Once the documentation has been collected and the case has been analysed, a number of steps have been taken in 2025 to search for new data or evidence and try to refute the suicide hypothesis.

Thus, on 28 February 2025, the coroner Francisco Etxeberria unearthed the body of Montxo Martinez Antia in the cemetery of Polloe (San Sebastián), where he was buried, in the presence of his family, members of the military political ETA, the Egiari Zor Foundation and the NGO Hunting Center, but the state of preservation of the remains prevented any further consideration of Martinez's death.

On the other hand, testimonies have been collected from direct relatives and close members of the organization, all of whom deny the suicide thesis, taking into account Martinez Antia's "personality, ideas, and political perspective," as well as the "possibility of short-term freedom as a result of the dictator's death," which they saw at the time as imminent.

Finally, an independent expert in criminology and weapons has produced a ballistic report of the weapons found next to Martinez Antia. He has concluded that the gun was not used after the introduction of the charger and as far as the machine gun is concerned, he has confirmed that it was used, but he cannot confirm that the wound that caused his death was caused by that weapon.

Suicide, "unworkable"

According to the organization, "the dimensions and location of the bathtub in which the alleged suicide occurred (a wall on the right) prevent the right arm from stretching sufficiently to be fired on the temple of the arme ski so that the projectile could be removed from the left temple." This would exclude Martinez Antia from firing himself with this weapon.

The NGO's report also shows that the operation in which Martinez Antia died was led by infiltrating agent Mikel Lejarza "El Lobo", who in his memoirs ("I trust. 45 years of spy", Roca Editorial 2019) acknowledged his involvement in these actions.

With all this evidence in hand, the ECHR concludes that, following the N.A.S.H. court model used to classify deaths, murder is the only possible category, that is, "Montxo Martinez Antia was killed by another person or persons with a shot in the right temple in the early morning of September 18, 1978."

Presentation

GEBehatokia will present the memorandum and conclusions at a conference on Thursday, October 9 at 6:30 p.m. at the Gazteszena in the Egia district of Donostia-San Sebastián, which will be attended by Axun Lasa, Francisco Javier Ruiz de Apodaka and Joxean Agirre.