The family of the considered first fatality of the Transition, Teófilo del Valle, has filed a complaint in Elda (Alicante) against the police officer who allegedly shot the young man to death, as well as against the commanders who provided him with cover from the defunct Armed Police. , with the aim of “doing justice.”
At 10 p.m. on February 24, 1976, Teófilo del Valle participated in a mobilization for the improvement of the footwear sector agreement, widely implemented in Elda, which ended with stones being thrown at an Armed Police bus. Shortly after, one of the agents, Daniel Aroca del Rey, pursued Teófilo del Valle and shot him six times, one of which hit his ankle and another, fatally, hit the back of his head.
Based on a recent investigation by Manuel de Juan, scriptwriter and director of a documentary about the figure of Teófilo del Valle, the family has discovered that that episode was not caused by “the ricochet” of a shot into the air but by a deliberate intention. . It has also confirmed the irregularities imposed in the military trial against the police officer, who barely spent time in prison, among them that those close to him were not allowed to take part with a lawyer or even attend the oral hearing.
“We want an investigation and an attempt to do justice to something that happened 48 years ago, because it was not done at the time,” José Antonio del Valle, brother, said by videoconference from Montevideo (Uruguay) at a press conference in Elda. older than the victim.
“The truth was not known when the trial was held, which was a pantomime,” this brother continued since “they tried to cover everything up.” For this reason, those close to him want what happened “not to go unpunished” and, thus, “to vindicate the truth and the memory of Teófilo.”
The director of the documentary and researcher, Manuel de Juan, has highlighted that “the evidence that incriminates the police officer and the chain of command is still intact” since photographs, statements and sketches “that incriminate the author and those responsible” are preserved.
In the Eldense courts, the complaint was presented this Thursday electronically by lawyer Aràdia Ruiz, from the El Rogle legal office, and has been directed against the material author of the alleged murder, the armed police officer of the second company of the 32nd flag. Daniel Aroca del Rey, as well as against the commanders Laureano Ballesteros Carbajo and Carlos Holgado Marín.
Likewise, it includes the then civil governor of Alicante, Benito Sáez González de Elipe, in his capacity as the highest authority of the Armed Police, and the then Minister of Labor Relations of the Government of Carlos Arias Navarro, Rodolfo Martín Villa.
The lawyer has stated that the perpetrator of the crime is still alive, and has added that the Amnesty Law for the crimes of the Franco regime, which is usually used to dismiss this type of complaints, “was born null and void” because shortly after Spain signed an international pact that made its implementation incompatible.
Aràdia Ruiz has also emphasized that the military trial violated the rights of the victim and that a crime against humanity cannot be left unpunished.
Supported by the State Coordinator of Support for the Argentine Complaint against crimes of the Franco regime (CEAQUA), this complaint joins the more than one hundred presented throughout the country to demand judicial investigation of crimes of the Dictatorship appealing to International Rights Law. Human Rights and International Criminal Law.
