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The new Spanish government has announced its intention to create a truth commission to investigate the crimes against humanity committed by the regime of former military dictator Francisco Franco, more than 40 years after his death
. the criminal records of those convicted of opposing the regime will be erased and organizations venerating the dictator's memory, such as the Fundación Francisco Franco, will also be banned.
Foundation members place fresh flowers every day on Franco's grave and his website is commemorated in his memory. Franco, a contemporary of Hitler and Mussolini, came to power after the Civil War of 1936-39 and ruled until his death in 1975.
The Spanish government says it will take responsibility for to make a census of the victims of the civil war and the dictatorship that ensued. Dolores Delgado, the Minister of Justice, told parliament: "It is not acceptable that people in the decade of the 90s who are desperately trying to recover the remains of their parents be blocked by a judge or justice arbitrary decision of a local authority
"It is also not acceptable that Spain is, after Cambodia, the country with the largest number of missing persons in the world. "
According to an earlier law on historical memory adopted by the Socialist Government in 2007 the duty to help families find and exhume relatives buried in anonymous graves, but this support was withdrawn after the coming to power of the right-wing People's Party in 2011.
A key difference in the new proposal is that the government commission, while under the 2007 law, it simply offered support to the family Those who tried to find loved ones who died under the dictatorship
The proposal was cautiously greeted by individuals and organizations who spent years defending the victims of the regime. ]
"If our sentences are annulled, we will no longer be considered criminals and a kind of normality will be restored after a period of 40 years," said José María "Chato" Gala
Galante was convicted of "unlawful badociation" and "illegal propaganda" almost 50 years ago and spent seven years in prison where he was tortured by the sadistic policeman known as Billy the Kid
José María "Chato" Galante approached the prison where, at age 24, he was imprisoned for fighting the dictatorship. Photography: Almudena Carracedo
"It is a positive step, but none of this makes sense unless the torturers and those who have committed crimes against humanity are brought to justice", he said. he said.
About 140,000 people disappeared during and after the civil war, not to mention those killed in action. Despite repeated requests from the UN, Spain is the only democracy that did not investigate state terrorism once the dictatorship ended
When Democracy was Restored in the years after Franco's death, all parties agreed to maintain a pact. silence on the civil war and its consequences.
"They should not be able to hide behind the 1977 amnesty law, which does not apply to crimes against humanity," said Mr. Galante. "All the victims of the Franco regime should seek justice for the crimes committed against them, otherwise reconciliation is impossible."
According to official figures, the remains of 120,000 victims were exhumed from 2,591 unmarked graves across the country. The regions with the largest number of tombs are Andalusia in the south and the northern regions of Aragon and Asturias.
"We have to see what they mean when they say that the state is taking its responsibilities," said Emilio Silva. for the recovery of historical memory.
"What we must see, is the elimination of obstacles to the prosecution of crimes committed by the dictatorship, mainly the law of amnesty, but also a politically inspired judicial decision according to which no one should be tried for these crimes.This decision must be reversed. "
Delgado said that Spain" was determined to discover the truth by using the correct and effective measures that can guarantee the reparation for the victims of Francoism ".
She added: no longer appear in international forums as one of the least respectful countries of resolutions on human rights violations, the right to truth, justice and reparations . "
The UN rapporteur, Pablo de Greiff, 2014 denounced the inaction of the Rajoy government with regard to the" just claims "of the victims of Franco's regime.
It remains to be seen until will go the law to return property that was confiscated often simply because the owner had been denounced as "red."
Silva says it's not clear how this The law goes further than that proposed by the government of José Luis Zapatero in 2007, which deliberately did not cancel the criminal record of the victims. 006]
"Thousands of people sentenced under the regime are confiscated their property – houses, land, savings – and the Zapatero government fears that if the sentences were annulled, the confiscations would also open the door to the heirs by claiming that which belongs to them legitimately, "he said.
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