More than forty years after the end of the dictatorship, a former Spanish minister was heard on Thursday by an Argentine judge charged with investigating crimes committed under the Franco regime and during the democratic transition that followed.
Rodolfo Martín Villa, 85-year-old former Minister of the Interior, is the subject of the investigation by Argentine judge Maria Servini following the complaint filed in his country by associations of victims of Francoism in 2010 for genocide and crimes against the humanity by virtue of the principle of universal justice.
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The judge seeks to determine her possible responsibility in the deaths of 12 people between 1976 and 1978, when Spain was opening up to democracy, against the backdrop of attacks perpetrated by extreme left and extreme right groups and severe episodes of political repression.
Five of the twelve victims are striking workers, killed by the police during a rally in March 1976 in Vitoria, in northern Spain, while he was Minister for Trade Union Relations.
Seven other victims died while he was Minister of the Interior.
Prefect of police of Barcelona during the last years of Francoism, appointed minister after the death of the dictator, and a major figure in the transition, the octogenarian was heard by videoconference for more than five hours at the Argentine consulate in Madrid, a-t- we learned from a judicial source.
The ex-minister, who has always proclaimed his innocence, sent Judge Servini about twenty letters of support, notably from former Prime Ministers, who affirm that he
"always acted with total commitment to defend the Rule of law and reform the police, ”
according to a statement from his lawyers.
Judge Servini has ten days to decide whether or not to indict him and request his extradition, which had already been unsuccessfully requested in 2014.
“This is the first time that a political official who acted during the last period of the dictatorship and during the transition period must be explained before a judge for very serious facts, ”
Jacinto Lara, lawyer for CEAQUA, the group of associations which filed a complaint in Argentina
,
told AFP.
So far, all attempts have been stopped dead in Spain due to the Amnesty Law of 1977, which in the name of the transition to democracy prevented any prosecution for political offenses, for opponents of Franco, but also for his supporters.
Time is playing against the plaintiffs who try at all costs to bring those responsible to justice before their death.
Juan Antonio González Pacheco, a Francoist ex-policeman accused of torture and nicknamed Billy the Kid or Franco's ex-minister, José Utrera Molina, against whom complaints had been filed, both died.
Leader of the radical left party Podemos and vice-president of the Spanish government, Pablo Iglesias hailed on Twitter "a historic step for justice and against impunity".