Keys of the new law of democratic memory: the Catalan, Galician and Basque languages, victims of the Franco regime

Exhumation in the vicinity of the Fort of San Cristóbal (Pamplona), a former Francoist prison where the victims were buried with a glass bottle, inside which their name and surnames were entered.Aranzadi

The democratic memory law will soon arrive in Congress for debate and approval after the inclusion of numerous amendments presented by the different groups.

These are the keys to the presentation:

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The elimination of Francoist titles of nobility and other keys to the future law of democratic memory

Amnesty Law: the State assumes the interpretation of Baltasar Garzón.

The text of the paper includes several references to the Amnesty Law of 1977, which ERC asked to repeal.

The first is praise: that law, he stresses, was a "historic claim of the anti-Francoist opposition" that amnestied "all crimes of political intent and infractions of a labor and trade union nature."

That amnesty law is not repealed, but the text then recalls "the obligation of public authorities" to interpret it "in accordance with International Humanitarian Law, according to which war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide and torture are considered imprescriptible”.

That was the premise of Baltasar Garzón when he opened a case against the crimes of Francoism in the National Court,

Recognition of human rights violations until 1983.

It is not true, as part of the right maintains, that the new memory law expressly includes José Antonio Lasa and José Ignacio Zabala as victims of Francoism, or that the GAL will be investigated again.

The concept of victim is the same and the section that refers to the investigation, through the creation of a Human Rights and Democratic Memory Chamber Prosecutor, of the crimes of the Civil War and the dictatorship between 1936 and 1978. What the text adds after the negotiation with the groups is the following: “As has occurred in other transitional processes in very diverse countries, even after the entry into force of the 1978 Constitution and the undoubted importance it represented for the new democratic legal system,

elements could persist that caused supposed violations of human rights to people for their struggle for the consolidation of democracy, fundamental rights and democratic values.”

For this reason, an additional provision contemplates “the appointment of a technical commission to prepare a study on said assumptions between the entry into force of the 1978 Constitution and December 31, 1983 to “point out possible ways of recognition and reparation.”

The seal of Catalonia, the Basque Country and Galicia.

The text adds, in the section that lists the different victims of Francoism with the right to specific measures of recognition and reparation, to "the Catalan and Basque self-government institutions and local corporations."

"The Basque, Catalan and Galician communities, languages ​​and cultures in their linguistic territorial areas" are also considered victims, and it is emphasized that their speakers were "persecuted" by the Franco regime.

Government sources clarify that by "Basque, Catalan and Galician cultures" is meant in this case the culture carried out in these three languages, not the one carried out in Castilian in those territories.

In addition, at the request of the PNV, and through a transactional amendment, a new claim period is opened for the restitution of documents to natural or legal persons, in accordance with the provisions of the law on the restitution to the Generalitat of Catalonia of seized documents. due to the Civil War.

The bill already included an additional provision to return assets seized from political forces during the dictatorship "when they were abroad as a result of judicial or administrative proceedings", which opens a new way for Basque nationalists to claim the Cervantes Institute building in Paris, seat of the Basque Government in the French capital from 1937 to 1940.

One year for seizure audit.

The text recognizes "the right to compensation for seized assets and economic sanctions produced for political, ideological, conscientious reasons or religious belief during the War and the Dictatorship", in the terms that are legally established in the development regulations.

The audit of seized assets contemplated by the law must be carried out "within one year" from its entry into force.

Office of victims and collection of testimonies.

The department responsible for democratic memory will have a victims' office to "collect the testimonies of people who suffered persecution and their families, as well as to carry out outreach and awareness-raising tasks."

In addition, within the Democratic Memory Council, a state-level commission will be set up, of an "academic, temporary and non-judicial, independent" nature, to contribute to the "clarification of human rights violations during the War and the Dictatorship as a way of favoring democratic coexistence, through the reception of testimonies, information and collection of documents”.

DNA bank also for stolen babies.

The state DNA database with profiles of the victims of the Franco regime will include "people affected by the abduction of newborns whose complaint has been admitted" for the facts that are the object of the memory law.

Samples of bone remains from different exhumations will also be kept in this DNA database.

Archives in the hands of the Franco Foundation.

The General State Administration undertakes to enable specific budget allocations for cataloging and access to archives.

In addition, the text adds: “The archives and documentation of the government of the Dictatorship, in particular of the Head of State, that are in the hands of private entities or individuals”, such as the Franco Foundation, will be incorporated, once the procedures have been completed. legal documents, to the Historical Memory Documentation Center or to the archive of the public body that is determined in a reasoned manner”.

New violations

.

A very serious offense is added "the destruction of public or private documents" for the recovery of historical memory as well as the "misappropriation of public documents by individuals or private institutions that held public office during the War, the Dictatorship and until the entry into force of the 1978 Constitution.

An illegal regime…

In addition to condemning the coup of the

July 18, 1936 and the subsequent Franco dictatorship, the new text declares "illegal the regime that emerged from the military conflict."

…that imposed illegal sentences.

The word "illegal" is also added when referring to the "radically null" character of all convictions and sanctions produced for political, ideological, conscientious or religious reasons during the War, as well as those suffered for the same causes during the war. Dictatorship, regardless of the legal qualification used to establish said sentences and sanctions”.

Withdrawal of 33 noble titles.

The text that the Government took to Congress planned to prepare "a catalog of noble titles granted between 1948 and 1978 that represent the exaltation of War and Dictatorship" to proceed with its suppression.

At the request of the PSOE and United We Can, the 33 that will be directly eliminated will be included in the law, relating to Franco, Primo de Rivera, Calvo Sotelo, Mola and Carrero Blanco, among others.

Support for researchers.

“The essential role played by the historical debate for the formation of a historical conscience adequate to the dignity of the citizens of a free and democratic society will be taken into account, and the contribution to it of the conclusions that are the result of the application in the verification and interpretation of the facts of the characteristic uses and methods of historiographical science”, says the paper.

"This shall be understood without prejudice to the inherent uncertainty of the aforementioned debate that derives from the fact of referring to past events on which the researcher can formulate hypotheses or conjectures under the protection of the freedom of scientific creation."

Spanish nationality for descendants of brigadistas.

The text includes, among the beneficiaries of Spanish nationality by naturalization card (without the need to renounce their previous nationality), the "descendants of the brigade members who prove a continuous work of disseminating the memory of their ancestors and the defense of democracy in Spain”.

Francoist portraits are prohibited in the office.

The law prohibits the exhibition of "portraits or other artistic expressions of soldiers and ministers associated with the military uprising or the repressive system of the Dictatorship" in "representative places and, in particular, offices or other rooms of senior officials, common spaces for or in public access areas.

Explain repression in textbooks.

Included among the "purposes" of the Spanish education system is "knowledge of Spanish democratic history and memory and the struggle for democratic values ​​and freedoms."

For this, "in the textbooks and curricular materials the repression that occurred during the War and the Dictatorship" will be developed in compulsory secondary education, vocational training and high school.

cultural persecution.

The text adds the commitment of the competent administrations to articulate "all the mechanisms, procedures and resources necessary to carry out an exhaustive and in-depth evaluation of the repression and cultural and linguistic persecution of Francoism, as well as its effects on the sociolinguistic reality of the State" .

Medals without pension.

The annulment and revocation of the resolutions by which the Francoist rewards were granted will determine "the loss of the corresponding annexed rights, including the economic ones."

New places of memory.

The Fort of San Cristóbal, a Francoist prison located in Pamplona (Navarra), will be declared a place of memory and will receive “financing” to carry out “activities in accordance with the recovery, safeguarding and dissemination of democratic memory”.

For the same purpose and within one year from the entry into force of the law, an "agreement to assign the Donostia Summit Palace [currently belonging to the Ministry of Territorial Policy] to the Donostia City Council" will be promoted.

The building, now unused, was the residence of the dictator during his summer stays in San Sebastian.

The Valley of the Fallen will be renamed Valle de Cuelgamuros.

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