The article discusses the notion of victim discourse as a means of political symbolism in Spanish politics, referring to theorist Judith Butler’s connection between grievability and a hierarchy of being. It uses the controversy surrounding the treatment of alleged murderer Iñaki de Juana Chaos, a member of the Basque separatist group ETA, as an instance of the politics of victimhood. Other topics include theorist Giorgio Agamben’s notion of a legal state of exception, conservative politicians’ advocacy for victims of ETA terrorist attacks, and victim discourse in relation to the cultural studies notion of biopolitics, which denotes state power over life and death.