The Generalitat has appeared as a popular accusation in the complaint filed in November 2022 by the trade unionist Carles Vallejo for the torture he received at the Via Laietana police station in 1970, which means that the Government appears in a case of this type for first time.
The complaint was filed by Vallejo in November 2022 and is still pending for the 18th trial court of Barcelona to decide whether to admit it for processing. In fact, the Barcelona Provincial Prosecutor's Office requested the file last week, alleging that the 1977 amnesty law prevents judging events of this type that occurred during the Franco regime and that crimes against humanity and torture did not exist in Spanish law at the time. moment of the facts.
The Generalitat differs from the criteria of the Prosecutor's Office and recalls that article 2 of the law of democratic memory of the State - in force since October 2022 - states that crimes against humanity and torture "are imprescriptible and cannot be amnestied".
All in all, the Generalitat, with the intention of supporting Vallejo and backing the fight for democratic memory, appeared this Monday before the investigating court 18 in Barcelona as a public accusation against the police officers who allegedly tortured Vallejo in 1970 in the Via Laietana police station for protesting against Francoism.
The Government had not appeared before because the law did not allow it, but a legal reform approved in March by the Parliament expanded the list of legal cases in which it can do so, including crimes of torture, and that is why it has taken this step Now, as the Minister for Justice, Rights and Memory, Gemma Ubasart, announced at a press conference: "We are fully involved in the case."
The minister has vindicated the pioneering nature of her personage and has indicated that "it is time that cases for torture of the Franco regime begin to be opened, taking advantage of the fact that the new law of democratic memory determines that these crimes do not prescribe."
Vallejo himself also participated in the press conference, thanking the Government for its support and criticizing the fact that the Prosecutor's Office opposed the admission of the complaint for processing last week and that no mention was made in the text of the public ministry something to the new law of democratic memory: "At this point nothing surprises me anymore".
Vallejo also recalled that although some of the policemen who participated in his torture, such as Vicente Juan Creix and Genuino Nicolás, have already died, other of the accused agents "must be alive" because they were of their generation. Altogether, there are six police officers to whom the complaint is directed: Vicente Juan Creix, Genuino Nicolás, Rafael Núñez, Francisco Javier Torres, José Antonio González and Francisco Manuel Escobedo.
