Article brought to you by: Catholic Online (www.catholic.org)
Atrocities of Franco dictatorship in Spain under investigation
By Catholic Online (NEWS CONSORTIUM)
December 30th, 2011
Catholic Online (www.catholic.org)
December 30th, 2011
Catholic Online (www.catholic.org)
While Spain officially remained neutral through World War II, the
fascist regime of General Francisco Franco, begun in 1936 with the
overthrow of the communist insurgents there, Franco's regime is
acknowledged as setting a dangerous precedent for Hitler's Germany and
Mussolini's Italy. Spain remained under Franco's rule until 1975,
following his death. A judge in Argentina has begun to investigate human
rights crimes committed during Spain's Franco period.
Servini has asked for the names of military officers involved in the Franco regime, lists of victims of "forced disappearance" and summary execution, lists of children who were stolen from their parents during the Franco regime and the names of companies that benefited from the forced labor of political prisoners.
Initially shelving the lawsuit on the grounds that investigations had been opened in Spain, the Cámara Federal ordered Servini to investigate whether Spain's justice system was effectively taking action.
Servini invoked the principle of universal jurisdiction for crimes against humanity, issued the request for a wide range of information, such as the addresses, or death certificates of agents of the regime.
After 36 years of dictatorship and 36 years of democracy in Spain, "not only is there not even a truth commission, but not one single child has had his or her identity restored," Servini said.
"The case was opened in Argentina because everything indicated that not even with a socialist government did the will exist for it to prosper there," one of the Argentine lawyers, Beinusz Szmukler says
Spain's Association for the Recovery of the Historical Memory, an agency that assists relatives search common graves for victims of the civil war and dictatorship, in addition to a dozen human rights groups in Argentina are behind the lawsuit filed in Buenos Aires on behalf of the families of victims of the Franco era.
One of the plaintiffs is 91-year-old Darío Rivas, who seeks justice in the murder of his father, Severino Rivas, purportedly killed in 1936 by members of Spain's fascist Falange movement.
Rivas' father was mayor of the coastal village of Castro de Rei in the northwestern Spanish province of Galicia when he was seized and shot. He was missing for decades until his remains were found in an unmarked grave and turned over to his son in 2005.
"Mr. Severino Rivas and the families of Inés García Holgado (another plaintiff) were the victims of a homicide technique perfected by the Spanish Falange: 'paseos' (strolls) that ended with a bullet to the back of the neck," the lawsuit says.
© 2011, Catholic Online. Distributed by NEWS CONSORTIUM.