Thursday, March 28

Justice admits a complaint against Villarejo for torture during the Franco regime

Justice has admitted for processing the complaint filed by Julio Pacheco Yepes against four members of the Francoist Social and Political Brigade, “as a consequence of the torture he suffered in August 1975 in a context of crimes against humanity”, points out the State Support Coordinator to the Argentine Complaint (CEAQUA).

In an order, issued on May 12, the investigating court number 50 of Madrid agrees to summon Pacheco and the witness Rosa María García, who has also denounced torture during the Franco regime, for the complaint filed for an alleged crime of crimes against humanity and torture

Along with Villarejo, Pacheco has also sued three more agents. The events that he denounced occurred in 1975, after the murder of Civil Guard lieutenant Antonio Pose. He was arrested and transferred to the General Directorate of Security. He assures that he was held for seven days and was subjected to continuous torture during interrogations.

With this action, Pacheco tries to “begin to tear down the wall of impunity that the victims have faced in recent decades,” he explained in February, when the complaint was made public. Among the difficulties that he has been encountering in gathering information to support his complaint, he lamented the obstacles to accessing official documentation. “I’ve been waiting for two years to get the police report,” he added.

The court has also agreed to request the National Historical Archive to forward the “totality of the existing documents in its funds” referring to Pacheco, as well as to the General Directorate of the Police to forward the complete file of the complainant, according to the order to which has accessed elDiario.es.

CEAQUA, the organization that has promoted several lawsuits for torture during the Franco regime, values ​​​​the content of the order very positively, they indicate in a statement. As they point out, this decision is the “first admission to processing of a criminal complaint, in which Francoist crimes are denounced” and in which “the taking of important evidence is agreed.”

If the content of this order is consolidated, and Pacheco finally declares before the judge, it will be “the first time that a Spanish court, in the criminal jurisdiction order, takes a statement from a complainant who suffered serious human rights violations during the Franco dictatorship” , continues detailing the organization.

From CEAQUEA they ask the Prosecutor’s Office not to file an appeal against this decision. “We are faced with an exceptional, very positive resolution, which we hope will be consolidated, that it acquires firmness and that the criteria expressed by the Examining Court number 50 of Madrid can be applied equally by other Spanish courts and tribunals”, he reports.



www.eldiario.es