Argentina seeks extradition of Franco-era ministers from Spain

An Argentine judge has reopened old wounds from Spain’s Franco dictatorship by ordering 20 former Spanish officials to face justice for alleged killings. Buenos Aires Judge Maria Servini de Cubria issued the arrest and extradition warrants invoking “universal jurisdiction”, a legal doctrine that authorises judges to try serious rights abuses committed in other countries. Servini issued a request to cross-border police agency Interpol to demand Spanish authorities carry out the “pre-emptive detention with a view to extradition” of the suspects. It was now up to the Spanish government to pass on the arrest order to the courts for them to notify the suspects.

It is historic. It is a great day.”

Maria Arcenegui Siemens, spokeswoman for the Association for the Recovery of Historical Memory

Two years after Francisco Franco’s death in 1975, Spanish leaders signed an amnesty agreement seen as essential to avoid a spiral of score-settling as they tried to unite the country and steer it to democracy. Spanish authorities still invoke the amnesty law in refusing to investigate alleged atrocities from the Franco era, despite demands by the United Nations that it be scrapped. Campaign groups also say hundreds of thousands of babies of left-wing opponents or unmarried couples were taken away at birth and given to adoptive families. More than 2,000 cases have been registered in Spanish courts.

We are convinced, as are many judges and prosecutors in Spain, that these matters must be investigated.

Renowned judge Baltasar Garzon

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