2023-09-15 13:11:12
This is a first since the death of Francisco Franco in 1975. An alleged victim of torture under the dictatorship is heard by a judge in Spain, where an amnesty law has until now prevented any prosecution, Friday September 15.
Member of an anti-Franco student organization, Julio Pacheco was 19 years old when he was arrested in Madrid by the secret police in August 1975, three months before the death of the “Caudillo”, who had then led the country since its victory in the civil war ( 1936-1939). Tortured for several days at the General Directorate of Security in the famous Puerta del Sol square, according to his testimony, he was then sent to prison, accused of terrorism.
Forty-eight years after the events, this 67-year-old retiree filed a complaint in February against his four alleged torturers, including the controversial ex-commissioner José Manuel Villarejo, famous in Spain for having recorded without their knowledge numerous political figures or economic circles.
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A “possible existence of crimes against humanity and torture”, invoked by the judge
The judge in charge of the case took the opposite approach of other magistrates before her by admitting this complaint in May due to « la possible existence » of “crime against humanity and torture” in this file. She also announced her intention to summon the accused and requested documents from the police and the national archives to carry out her investigation, at the end of which she will decide on a referral to court or dismissal. .
In front of the Madrid court, where Julio Pacheco was summoned Friday morning to be heard by the magistrate, around thirty people brandished a banner proclaiming “the victims of Francoism demand justice” and a sign showing the faces of victims of the dictatorship. Mr. Pacheco told Agence France-Presse that he felt ” a little nervous “ before entering the court.
Julio Pacheco, his wife Rosa Maria Garcia and others holding a banner with photos of alleged victims in front of the Madrid Magistrate’s Court, September 15, 2023. PIERRE-PHILIPPE MARCOU / AFP
If it is only a first step in the legal procedure, Friday’s hearing is a victory for victims’ associations, according to which around a hundred complaints have in the past been rejected by the courts. This former printer hopes above all that his testimony will make it possible to open “a breach in the wall of impunity” and will lead the courts to be “more open to the next complaints that will be filed”.
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A 1977 amnesty law which prevented any prosecution
So far, despite insistent requests from the United Nations, Spanish justice has stopped all attempts by victims of the dictatorship by invoking the statute of limitations of the facts but above all the amnesty law of 1977.
This pillar text of the transition to democracy, after the death of Franco, on November 20, 1975, prevents the prosecution of any political offense committed during the dictatorship by opponents, but also by “civil servants and agents maintaining public order”.
The famous magistrate Baltasar Garzon was himself prosecuted, and finally acquitted, for having attempted to open an investigation into the crimes of Francoism covered by this law. To the great despair of the victims, torturers have died and can never be prosecuted, such as a police officer nicknamed “Billy” (“Billy the Kid” in English) because of his habit of swinging his pistol like a cowboy, died in 2020.
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Alleged victims turn to Argentina
One of the people who accused “Billy el Niño” of torture is none other than Julio Pacheco’s wife, Rosa Maria Garcia, 66, arrested like him in August 1975, but whose complaint was rejected. However, she will also be heard on Friday, as a witness, because one of the tortures to which her husband was allegedly subjected was to see her being tortured herself.
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Faced with obstacles in Spain, victims’ associations turned to Argentina, where magistrate Maria Servini invoked the principle of universal justice to open an investigation in 2010, still ongoing, for genocide and crimes against humanity during civil war and dictatorship.
As part of its investigations, in 2014 it launched twenty international arrest warrants against around twenty representatives of the Franco regime (ministers, judges, police officers) but was rejected by Madrid. .
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