MADRID (Reuters) – The family of the Spanish fascist Falange party’s founder, Jose Antonio Primo de Rivera, have asked to exhume his remains, buried in the monument known as The Valley of the Fallen, where those of dictator Francisco Franco remained until October 2019, Spanish newspaper ABC said on Monday.
In a statement from the family posted by ABC, the heirs of Primo de Rivera said their decision had been taken following the recently approved law of Democratic Memory, which provides for the basilica to become a civil burial place.
The family says it considers itself “obliged” to fulfil “the will” of Primo de Rivera and “carry out the exhumation and corresponding burial of his mortal remains in a sacred cemetery in accordance with the Catholic rite.” He was killed in 1936.
Last week, the Spanish parliament approved a new “Democratic Memory” bill to tackle the legacy of Franco’s 1939-1975 dictatorship and the civil war that preceded it, with measures honouring those who suffered persecution or violence.
The new legislation, which is expected to enter into force in the next few days after its publication in the government’s official bulletin, was drafted by the left-wing government and aims to eliminate loopholes and cover a wider range of victims and crimes related to Francoism.
The bill, which promotes the search and exhumations of victims buried in mass graves, states no one could be buried in a place of prominence in the complex.
Earlier this month, the minister in charge of the bill, Felix Bolanos, said that the government would initiate the appropriate proceedings to remove the remains of the fascist Falange party’s founder from The Valley of the Fallen.
The bill declared null and void the convictions and penalties handed down by Francoist repressive bodies over people’s political and other beliefs, or sexual orientation.
Franco’s remains were reburied in a family crypt in 2019.
(This story has been refiled to change the headline to ‘his remains’ from ‘its remains’)
(Reporting by Jesús Aguado; additional reporting by Emma Pinedo; editing by Alistair Bell)
