Friday, March 29

Relatives of the Valley of the Fallen sue the mayor of San Lorenzo de El Escorial for paralyzing the exhumations and failing to comply with a sentence

Relatives of republicans buried in the Valley of the Fallen have announced the filing of a criminal complaint against the mayor of San Lorenzo de El Escorial, Carlota Esteban López, for an alleged crime of prevarication by not renewing the building permit to proceed to the exhumations in accordance with the sentence that lifted last June the precautionary measure that paralyzed the work in the crypts.

The announcement of the complaint occurs after the families have had access to the legal report by which the Consistory denies the request to renew the building permit.

The request came after the Superior Court of Justice of Madrid (TSJM) will lift the precautionary measure that kept the access works to the Cuelgamuros crypts paralyzed.

However, the mayor refuses to renew the building license due to the pending appeal in the Supreme Court against the judicial decision.

The legal report in which the renewal is reported unfavorably, to which Europa Press had access, states that “the request requested could only be estimated when judgment number 392/2022 becomes final and is notified to this City Council.”

In the same way, it argues that with regard to the intended provisional execution, this, where appropriate, must be articulated within the judicial procedure with the fulfillment of the legal requirements established in Law 29/1998 of July 13 Regulating the Contentious-Administrative Jurisdiction that, in no case, could be ignored by this City Council.

Silvia Navarro, president of the Association of Relatives for the Exhumation of the Republicans buried in the Valley of the Fallen, has highlighted that the concession is endorsed by the final judgment of 2016 referring to the Lapeña brothers, shot in Calatayud and buried in the Valley of the Fallen, and the resolution of the TSJM.

“We do not understand why the license is hindered and therefore, once advised, the families are going to file a criminal complaint against the mayor,” he announced.

For his part, the spokesman for the Association for the Recovery of Historical Memory, Emilio Silva, considered that “the City Council may be prevaricating” according to the arguments set out in the report.

According to the spokesman for this association, “there is no reason for the suspension” of the building permit, so in his opinion the non-concession is “a political decision that prevents the exercise of a right to some relatives.”

“Not only is it an exercise in humanity by the authorities of San Lorenzo but, faced with the imposition of not renewing, they become collaborators of those who 60 years ago decided to kidnap those bodies to bury them in a place that their families did not decide” , he has asserted.

Thus, he has criticized the fact that the City Council of this town in Madrid hides behind “a possible appeal action to intervene before the families and the rights they have”.

This association already announced a few days ago that it was considering denouncing the mayor of San Lorenzo del Escorial, Carlota López Esteban, for alleged administrative prevarication for her decision to prevent relatives who want to remove the remains of their loved ones from the Valley of the Fallen.

The mayor has refused to renew the building license to access the crypts due to the pending appeal in the Supreme Court against the judicial decision to lift the precautionary measures that prevented the exhumations.

The ARMH considers that with the argument of an appealable judicial decision, “the executive power of a municipality cannot intervene and prevent the right of these family members.” “The mayor’s decision prevents and short-circuits a judicial decision and is arbitrarily put on the part of those who want to prevent the right of families”, they expose from the ARMH.



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