The Barcelona Prosecutor's Office has filed a direct appeal against the decision of the 18th investigating court, which last week refused to investigate the torture by the Francoist police of the trade unionist Carlos Vallejo at the Via Laietana police station, considering that the facts are prescribed and amnestied and do not constitute a crime against humanity.
The court made the decision against the criteria of the Public Ministry. After learning of the rejection, the prosecutor of the Human Rights and Democratic Memory Chamber, Dolores Delgado, ordered a report to be prepared that would serve as an argument for the Barcelona Prosecutor's Office in this case and others that may occur in the future.
In this report, the Public Ministry advocates compliance with the new Democratic Memory Law, which establishes the obligation of the State to investigate events that could violate human rights and the right of victims to know what happened and access the information. resources established by public powers to address them.
The effort to clarify the truth, according to sources from the specialized Prosecutor's Office, is linked to the need for recognition and reparation of the victims, regardless of whether the process ends in a criminal or administrative resolution that includes, for example, the issuance of death certificates.
In her order, the head of the Court of Instruction number 18 of Barcelona, Carmen García Martínez, agreed not to admit to processing the complaint presented by the unionist Carlos Vallejo, in the first case in Spain in which the Prosecutor's Office supported investigating the crimes of the Franco regime, invoking the new Democratic Memory Law.
The judge thus rules out investigating the reported torture, concluding that the “principles of criminal legality, the non-retroactivity of unfavorable provisions and the validity of the amnesty law are insurmountable obstacles,” in view of constitutional jurisprudence.
The complaint was filed by Carlos Vallejo, a trade unionist arrested twice in the early 1970s who was a victim of torture at the Via Laietana Headquarters for his political and trade union activity, and is directed against six Francoist police officers. .
