A Spanish court has ruled that the remains of dictator General Francisco Franco, who died in 1975, can be exhumed.
His family had tried to block attempts to remove his body from a gigantic mausoleum he built on the outskirts of Madrid and place it in a cemetery , but on Tuesday their appeal was unanimously rejected by six judges in the supreme court.
Leftist parties and families of many Spanish Civil War victims have wanted Franco to be extracted from the Valley of the Fallen site – a major tourist attraction he built – while others have claimed it would reopen old wounds.
Around 34, 000 people from both sides of the 1936 –
In a tweet, caretaker prime minister Pedro Sanchez celebrated the decision, saying: “The determination to make up for the suffering of the victims of Francoism has always guided the government action . “
His deputy, Carmen Calvo, said the government intended to proceed with the exhumation “as soon as possible”.
Although Franco’s relatives cannot appeal the ruling, lawyer Luis Felipe Utrera told Spanish public broadcaster TVE that the family intended to take “the legal battle to the end” by going to the country’s constitutional court and the European Court of Human Rights.
He said: “The government is prohibiting a family from burying where they deem convenient.”
Such legal challenges would not immediately stop the socialist government plans.
Spain’s Association of Historical Memory has long fought for the body’s removal and welcomed the decision, but opposed the plan to take it to the El Pardo cemetery outside Madrid.
Spokesman Bonifacio Sanchez said the cemetery was a publicly financed place and the remains should be given to the family for burial in a private location.
He also dismissed the Franco’s family’s plans to appeal, saying: “The state cannot be dependent on what the family of one that has committed genocide says.”
Experts have estimated 114, 000 bodies from the civil war are still buried in 2, 500 **** graves across the country, most of them unmarked.
The ruling came as Spain’s parliament was dissolved and elections officially set for 10 November.
Opposition parties have accused the socialists of planning to use the exhumation for electoral purposes.
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