Law to finally give Franco victims justice arrives

[Ferran]

Law to finally give Franco victims justice arrives

10 May 2006

MADRID — A long-promised law to give justice to some of the victims of the former dictator Francisco Franco is to come before Parliament in the summer.

The Socialist government's Law of Historic Memory will aim to acknowledge the suffering of those who were persecuted under almost 40 years of military rule between 1939 until Franco's death in 1975.

The Spanish daily El Pais reported the draft bill should be presented to parliament in June.

Deputy prime minister Maria Fernandez de la Vega told a cabinet meeting last week it must be considered by parliament before the summer recess.

The controversial law stands to be attacked by all sides.

The Right claim modern Spain begins with the transition period to democracy after Franco's death.

But victims of the former dictator want the bill to saw laws passed during Franco's regime were illegitimate.

Dolores Cabra, from the War and Exile Association, said: "We don't need moral recognition. We have that.

"What we're asking for is that the Franco regime be explicitly defined in law as illegitimate."

Spain is the only European country which never overturned laws made during a military dictatorship.

[Copyright EFE with Expatica]



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