Argentine Judge Hears Testimony of Franco Victims in Spain
An Argentine judge heard testimony in Spain on Thursday from two women in their 90s who say their family members were tortured and killed during General Francisco Franco's right-wing dictatorship.
Their testimony forms part of a probe into possible crimes against humanity by the dictatorship which Argentine Judge Maria Servini de Cubria opened in 2010 under the principle of universal jurisdiction.
This doctrine allows certain human rights abuses to be pursued and tried elsewhere if the country in which they occurred did not investigate.
"They were both very emotional, they were happy to be able to testify before a judge for the first time," one of the lawyers who represents the alleged victims, Carlos Slepoy, told reporters after the women testified at a Madrid court.
"They want the reputation of these people who were condemned based on false accusations to be restored," he added.
Faustina Romeral, 93, testified that she and her mother were jailed by Franco's forces for years while her grandfather was shot to death by a firing squad while her grandfather and brother went missing, he said.
Teresa Alvarez, 93, told the judge that her father was jailed and tortured by Franco's henchmen who rammed the end of an umbrella in his ears, causing him to lose his hearing.
She said one of her brothers went missing while another was sentenced to forced labor.
"I told everything in detail. I have lost my memory but I have this engraved in my mind," Alvarez told reporters outside the court.
Franco ruled Spain from 1939 until his death in 1975. He took over the country after leading a rebellion against a democratically elected government, thus starting the Spanish Civil War in 1936.
The judge has been in Spain since May 19 to hear testimony from Franco's victims who are too frail to travel to Argentina.
She heard testimony from five other victims in the northern Basque region and in the southern region of Andalucia. Her trip wraps up on Saturday.
The Argentine probe started after a much publicized investigation into Franco-era crimes launched by famed former Spanish Judge Baltasar Garzon hit a standstill.
Garzon's Franco crimes probe faced stiff opposition in Spain because it was seen as going against a 1977 amnesty that was adopted to unify the country after Franco's death in 1975.
It was seen as a necessity by the leaders tasked with unifying the country still smarting from the wounds of the 1936-1939 civil war and the ensuing decades of dictatorship.
Source: Agence France Presse
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