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Catalan Parliament to declare “null and void” Francoist summary courts-martial

Decision to be taken under Catalan “sovereignty”, bill says

MPs applaud courts-martial victims' relatives.
MPs applaud courts-martial victims' relatives. Author: Parlament de Catalunya
The Catalan Parliament today gave its green light parliamentary debate on a bill that seeks to declare "null and void" all politically-motivated, summary courts-martial and their rulings that were made in Catalonia under Spain's Francoist dictatorship over the 1938-1975 period. The bill bears a heavy symbolic load, not only because it partially declares null almost 40 years of dictatorship rulings, but also because it does so by appealing to Catalan "sovereignty".

The summary courts-martial, the bill recalls, worked under seven edicts and decrees that had been passed under the Francoist dictatorship. The first one was approved in 1936, shortly after the Spanish nationalist, far-right coup d'etat led by general Francisco Franco, and the last one was passed in 1975, a few months before Franco died.

The bill also seeks to empower the Catalan ministry of Justice to issue certifications on the nullity of the courts-martial procedures, and their rulings, at the request of those having been prosecuted, or their families.

The bill is likely to be passed, as it has support from at least 83 of 135 MPs in the Catalan legislature. The bill has been jointly introduced by pro-independence groups Together for Yes and CUP, and left-wing alliance Catalonia Yes We Can.

In the explanatory memorandum, the three groups report that all Spanish governments to date have been unwilling to cancel those rulings.

Some Spanish jurists argue that the rulings had de facto been repealed under the 1978 Spanish Constitution provisions. Others object that, in any case, there should have been an act of reparation for the victims of the trials, as requested by the United Nations.

Decision under "Catalan sovereignty"

The explanatory memorandum too argues that the Catalan Parliament, by passing this bill, is taking its "historical responsibility" to fix the abuses committed by the dictatorship.

It further says that the decision to nullify the courts-martial is made "under the sovereignty that the people of Catalonia has granted to this Parliament" within the "constitutional path" that Catalonia is following since the 2015 Catalan election.