A TINY shrine of flowers and candles stands at the foot of the towering fortress walls of Hondarribia, marking the spot where a 14-year-old schoolboy was driven by bullies to throw himself to his death.

It is almost three weeks since Jokin Ceberio crept out of his home at dawn, took his bicycle and rode up to the highest point of the fortified town at the mouth of the River Bidasoa, which separates the French and Spanish Basque country.

His body lay in the shadow of the wall until it was discovered by a man walking his dog in the afternoon — even though there is a busy pedestrian bridge by the spot. It was almost as if the town itself were ashamed to acknowledge the boy’s final act of despair.

Since Jokin committed suicide, not just Hondarribia but all of Spain has been horrified to discover that his was a death that could have been prevented. It has exposed a phenomenon which until now has been so neglected that an English word has had to be imported to give it a name: in Spain everyone is talking about “el bullying”.

Eight of Jokin’s classmates have been questioned by police and ordered to remain at home while the investigation continues in what resembles a murder inquiry. Three of the eight children have parents who teach at the school.

In a letter published in newspapers across Spain this week, Jokin’s family wrote: “It is increasingly clear to us, as we learn more of the humiliations and aggressions over the last year of his life, that our son did not commit suicide; our son was driven to suicide.

“Those who had a duty to protect him, those who knew what was happening to him, looked the other way and abandoned him to his fate.”

A post-mortem examination exposed the suffering which Jokin had refused to reveal. In addition to injuries from his fall, doctors discovered others all over his body, caused by punches and kicks which predated his death by at least eight days. The new school term had barely begun but he had already played truant on two consecutive days. When, at the end of the first week of term, his parents insisted that he explain his absence, Jokin reluctantly admitted that he had been beaten up every day. When they asked him who was responsible, he replied: “What do you want, that they kill me for telling you?”

The next Monday Jokin was excused school. He played with his computer and that evening dined with his parents, later chatting happily with his elder brother, Xabier. Nobody suspected that he was about to end his torment, terrified of what might befall him if he returned to school.

The next day, as a police hunt for the missing child started, his parents met teachers and parents at his school. It was only then that they realised how many people at the college were aware of what had been happening to Jokin yet failed to intervene.

As Monika, one of Jokin’s cousins, wrote after his funeral: “Where were the teachers looking while Jokin suffered in front of their eyes? What does the State do with our children in their schools when we trust them to look after them? What kind of world are we building where 14-year-old children are systematically tortured?”

Hondarribia is today a town where few wish to speak about its sudden, unsought notoriety. Many have privately expressed their horror to Jokin’s parents about what happened to him. But perhaps more striking is that in a town of just 13,800 inhabitants the reaction to his suicide has been so muted. A schoolgirl who performed a solemn and ancient Basque funeral dance in his honour was later threatened. One local columnist suggested that the region´s decades-long conflict, pitching the paramilitary group Eta against the State, has imposed a fearful silence among ordinary people.

The parents of the chief juvenile suspects initially refused to accept that their children must stay at home for lessons, but have now relented.

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