Companys' death sentence was annulled on Friday when the Memory Law came into force

The sentence that sentenced the president of the Generalitat Lluís Companys to death has been annulled since last Friday, October 21, when the Democratic Memory Law came into force, which in its article 5 declares the "illegality and illegitimacy of the courts, juries and any other criminal or administrative bodies that, after the 1936 coup d'état, had been set up to impose, for political, ideological reasons, conscience or religious belief, sentences or sanctions of a personal nature, as well as the illegitimacy and annulment of their resolutions.

Thomas Osborne
Thomas Osborne
25 October 2022 Tuesday 11:32
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Companys' death sentence was annulled on Friday when the Memory Law came into force

The sentence that sentenced the president of the Generalitat Lluís Companys to death has been annulled since last Friday, October 21, when the Democratic Memory Law came into force, which in its article 5 declares the "illegality and illegitimacy of the courts, juries and any other criminal or administrative bodies that, after the 1936 coup d'état, had been set up to impose, for political, ideological reasons, conscience or religious belief, sentences or sanctions of a personal nature, as well as the illegitimacy and annulment of their resolutions."

The law also establishes in point 2 of the same article that "because they are contrary to law and violate the most elementary requirements of the right to a fair trial, as well as the concurrence in these processes of intimidation and defenselessness, it is declared in any case the nullity of convictions and sanctions and the illegality and illegitimacy of the Special Court for the Repression of Freemasonry and Communism, the Court of Public Order, as well as the Courts of Political Responsibilities and Courts Martial constituted for political, ideological, conscientious reasons or religious belief, in accordance with the provisions of article 4 of this law".

That was the response of the Minister of the Presidency, Félix Bolaños, to the ERC senator Sara Bailac, who was not satisfied and, in the control session of the Government in the Senate, reproached the Government that 82 years later it had not The executed president made an act of reparation, at the same time that he demanded that this annulment appear in his file.

Again, Bolaños recalled that the Historical Memory Law itself contemplates that this nullity be transferred to the respective files. But the minister expressed surprise at the vindictive nature of ERC, when he did not vote in favor of the law "which has already annulled the sentence of Companys and all the victims of the coup, the dictatorship and the fascist repression."

The discomfort of the ERC lies in the fact that there is no specific act of reparation for Lluis Companys, as it has always requested, and that Junqueras himself claimed on October 15, the anniversary of his execution, when he announced a proposal for a Law presented by the ERC in the Congress that requires "a formal act of reparation by the Government."

The bill, which is pending debate in Congress, urges the organization of the act by creating a working group in agreement with the Ministry of Justice of the Generalitat and the Ministry of the Presidency, Relations with the Courts and Democratic Memory.

It also asks to declare the "annulment of Francoist sentences" such as that of Companys and that the Government make public the names of all the victims of Francoism, while requesting that the Government issue documents of recognition and reparation ex officio and that a "act of reparation towards the people of Catalonia" with an act in memory of Companys.

Félix Bolaños said in the Senate that the Democratic Memory Law "which the ERC did not vote in favor of" "repairs the memory of all the people who were victims of the coup, the civil war and the Franco dictatorship, and therefore supposes the reparation of the memory of Lluis Companys". In his opinion, the Historical Memory Law "does justice to all the victims of that black period" and that is why the ERC claim seems "paradoxical" to him "despite the fact that he did not vote in favor, something he did, said Bailca, for "considering it insufficient".