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This paper explores the right of any victim of crime to be accompanied by any person of her choice from the first contact with the authorities. This right was formally acknowledged by the Directive 2012/29/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 October 2012 establishing minimum standards on the rights, support and protection of victims of crime, and replacing Council Framework Decision 2001/220/JHA (2012/29/ EU Directive), and transposed to the 2015 Law 4/2015 of 27 April 2015 on the standing of victims of crime (2015 Law 4/2015), subject to exceptions on reasoned grounds. The rationale for this right is the persistent secondary victimisation of victims in the criminal justice system and the need for a procedural justice approach. This article draws on qualitative exploratory research conducted during September, October and November 2019 in the Basque Country (Spain), based on information collected from fieldwork observation, photos, questionnaires and interviews with victims and legal professionals, as well as secondary data on a Basque Government program that offers more comprehensive professional companionship to women victims of intimate partner violence. It analyses some aspects that emerge from the implementation of this right in Spain. Finally, it concludes that, even if relevant, the specific legal inclusion of this right in the Directive should be complemented with a more responsive perspective of human rights.

Memorialisation is experienced by victims of traumatic events as a form of justice. Victims‘ and society right to memory is mentioned in the Basque Law 4/2008 on recognition and protection of terrorism victims and the Spanish Law 29/2011 on recognition and integral protection of terrorism victims. Drawing from critical victimology and memory studies, this contribution aims at addressing current criticism by some victims‘ organizations with regard to memory public policies in this field. It particularly addresses ways of restoration through memory linked to the meaning of spaces of victimisation by examining the work of different photographers on making aspects of those victimisations visible for the contested purpose of remembering. First the conceptual framework on space, victimisation and memory is presented. Then it is related to the results of qualitative research by the Basque Institute of Criminology. At the end the micro, meso and macro aspects of local intervention proposals on restorative memory, including ethical remarks are commented.