The Basque Parliament has approved, after two years of processing, its first Law on Historical and Democratic Memory. It has done so with the votes in favor of 90.6% of the parliamentary representation (PNV, EH Bildu, PSE and Elkarrekin- Podemos) and the support of the main groups in the field of Memory. The five parliamentarians of the PP, the representative of Ciudadanos and the representative of Vox have voted against because the Law does not concern the victims of ETA terrorism, protected through the Law of Recognition and Comprehensive Protection of Victims of Terrorism.
The norm seeks to “recover, restore and rehabilitate” the memory of the victims of Franco’s regime, through measures aimed at “facilitating restoration and reparation” and “promoting that impunity no longer protects those who facilitated and contributed to the military coup.” .
The text considers a victim to be any person who has suffered, individually or collectively, physical, moral or psychological harm, property damage or impairment of their fundamental rights during the period from the coup d’état of July 18, 1936 until the entry into force of the Spanish Constitution of 1978.
Among other measures, the norm provides for preparing a report on human rights violations between 1936 and 1978; prepare a public census of victims; sanction demonstrations or acts that praise the dictatorship; locate and exhume missing persons; establish a day of tribute to the victims; designate places and itineraries of the memory of Euskadi; allocate the DNA data bank system with exhumations; or analyze complementary compensation.
The text “repudiates and condemns the coup d’état of July 18, 1936 and the subsequent Franco dictatorship”, while pointing out that the victims of Franco’s regime have the right to appeal to the Administration of Justice to demand responsibility for crimes against humanity. and achieve “full justice.”
The Law grants a key role to the Memory Institute-Gogora, which will act to locate those missing in the Civil War and their identification. In addition, Gogora will assess the relevance of compensation and, if applicable, will proceed to implement it.
Likewise, the Basque Government, through Gogora, will form a professional scientific team to investigate and prepare a base report on human rights violations in Euskadi during the Civil War and the Franco regime, between 1936 and 1978, as well as a report with timely conclusions. that “reliably collects what happened.”
The norm also provides for the creation of an archive of testimonies from the Civil War and the dictatorship in Euskadi, and Gogora will establish a plan for the coordination of the elimination or resignification, where appropriate, of symbols contrary to historical memory.
Regarding the sanctioning regime, the Law considers serious infractions, among others, activities such as demonstrations or exhibitions by public representatives and officials that praise or excuse the military coup of 1936 and the dictatorship; the celebration of events and tributes for the commemoration, exaltation or individual or collective praise of the military coup of 1936, including the celebrations associated with July 18, and of the Franco dictatorship, its leaders or its organizations.
The Law will also sanction the promotion of distinctions or recognition of people, entities or organizations that supported the dictatorial regime. The sanctions will consist of fines of amounts between 200 and 150,000 euros.
