The courts have just closed the only open case for a crime of torture committed during the Franco dictatorship, considering that the statute of limitations has expired. The magistrate of the 50th court in Madrid alleges that, following the doctrine of the Constitutional Court, it is not possible to investigate this type of complaint about events that occurred during the Franco regime. The case had been initiated by activist Julio Pacheco, who was supported by the State Coordinator of Support for the Argentine Complaint against the crimes of Francoism (Ceaqua). The entity has already announced that it will appeal the closing.
This was the first time that the courts had accepted a criminal complaint alleging Francoist crimes after more than a hundred rejections in different Spanish courts, the last two in the investigating courts of Ferrol and Pamplona. Julio Pacheco accused four police officers from the Political Social Brigade of torture, including retired police commissioner José Manuel Villarejo. The other three police officers accused are Álvaro Valdemoro, José Luis Montero Muñoz and José María González Reglero.
Last July, the judge took statements from the complainant and the witness Rosa María García Alcón. The magistrate also asked the National Historical Archive for “all the documents in its collection” relating to Pacheco, and specifically, “his arrest on August 24, 1975, the judicial resolutions issued by the Public Order jurisdiction and his stays in prison.” She also asked the General Police Directorate to provide Pacheco with the complete police file.
Ceaqua has regretted this new judicial setback and has taken the opportunity to demand a change in legislation to be able to pursue possible crimes committed during the Franco dictatorship. “There is no doubt that it is more necessary than ever for both the executive and legislative branches to immediately get to work to promote all appropriate legislative measures to reverse the impunity of Francoist crimes, having made clear the inadequacy for these purposes of the Law of Democratic Memory approved in 2022. With the filing of the case brought by Julio Pacheco, all complaints filed after the entry into force of said law have been inadmissible and/or archived,” they point out in a statement.
In his opinion, “the responsibility for maintaining this framework of impunity is shared by the three branches of the State and it is useless to focus solely and exclusively on the judicial branch.” Pacheco was a student, a member of the Communist Party and a member of the Democratic University Federation of Spain (FUDE) when he was arrested by the Francoist police on August 24, 1975, after the murder of Civil Guard lieutenant Antonio Pose. According to his complaint, he was taken to the General Directorate of Security, where he was held for seven days and subjected to “continuous torture during interrogations.”
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