At an extraordinary session in Madrid yesterday, the High Court ruled by ten votes to five to suspend the search for Civil War and dictatorship victims ordered by Judge Baltasar Garzón (main photo) on the grounds that, under the 1977 Amnesty Law, Franco-era crimes cannot be investigated.
"The activities related to the exhumation of bodies must be suspended while this court resolves questions raised by the public prosecutor regarding the competence of the judge to make this move."
Judge Garzón's initiative has the backing of the UN Human Rights Commission, which recently urged Spain to scrap the Amnesty Law on the grounds that it contravenes international treaties.
The United Left IU party has threatened "legal action" against yesterday's ruling, which has been described as "unjust and inhumane" by various associations representing families of Civil War 'desaparecidos'.
Prosecutors challenge Garzón's competency to probe Civil War crimes By: thinkSPAIN Tuesday, October 21, 2008
High Court prosecutors are disputing Judge Baltasar Garzón's competency to investigate crimes committed during and after the Spanish Civil War.
In a statement released yesterday, prosecutors refute Judge Garzón's contention that such offences were crimes against humanity, and should therefore be investigated by the "courts in each territory where such atrocities were committed."
They also state that "the protection of the rights of the victims is guaranteed by the Law of Historical Memory, which," they argue, "is the ideal channel for the protection and tutelage of the victims' rights."
However, the appeal, which was presented to the Penal Court yesterday, does not demand the suspension of the exhumation of the 19 mass graves ordered by Judge Garzón at the end of last week, an initiative which, prosecutors stress, "they have never opposed."
Civil War crimes judge orders exhumation of 19 mass graves By: thinkSPAIN Friday, October 17, 2008
Having declared himself competent to investigate crimes against humanity committed during, and in the immediate aftermath of, the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939), High Court judge, Baltasar Garzón, has ordered 19 mass graves to be exhumed, including one in Granada believed to contain the remains of poet and playwright, Federico García Lorca.
A 68-page ruling published yesterday estimates the total number of people that vanished between July 17th, 1936 and December 1951 at 114,266.
Given that Franco and all 34 of his senior aides named in the ruling as being responsible for instigating the crimes, are dead, they cannot face prosecution though Judge Garzón has requested to see their death certificates just to make sure.
However, a list of the names of the leaders of the fascist Falange party during the period under investiagtion has been requested from the Interior ministry, and any survivors could face trial.
Civil War/ Franco regime 'desaparecidos', totals by region: Andalucía 32,289 Aragón 10,178 Asturias 1,246 Baleares 1,777 Basque Country 9,459 Canarias 262 Cantabria 850 Castilla La Mancha 7,067 Castilla León 12,979 Cataluña 2,400 Extremadura 10,266 Galicia 4,396 La Rioja 2,007 Madrid 2,995 Murcia 855 Navarra 3,431 Valencian Community 4,345 Ceuta and Melilla 464 Other territories 7,000 Total 114,266
Mass grave locations by region: Andalucía: Víznar (Granada), where Lorca is thought to be buried, Alfácar (Granada), La Palma del Condado (Huelva), Bonares (Huelva) and Niebla (Huelva)
Castilla la Mancha: Parrillas (Toledo)
Castilla León: Adrada de Haza (Burgos), Valdenoceda (Burgos), San J
