By IANS
Madrid : The Spanish government has tabled a bill in the lower house of parliament condemning Francisco Franco’s dictatorship and recognise the rights of the victims of the 1936-1939 civil war, Spanish news agency EFE reports.
Once passed by parliament, the Law of Historical Memory – tabled Thursday – will require municipalities, institutions and individuals to withdraw signs and symbols exalting Franco or the military coup that brought him to power.
The bill, tabled by the socialist government of Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, has been included in the list of business of the house despite strong opposition from the main conservative Popular Party.
Opposition parties have said that the bill would re-open divisions in Spanish society and is contrary to the conciliatory spirit of the post-Franco transition to democracy.
Criticism of the government’s move also came from the Catalan separatists, who said the original motive behind the bill was distorted and that it was transformed into a disguised amnesty that “leaves the crimes of Franco regime unpunished”.
The bill seeks to recognise the rights of people who suffered persecution or violence for political, ideological or religious reasons during the civil war and the next 40 years of Franco’s dictatorship.
The proposed piece of legislation allows people still searching for the remains of family members – some of them buried in mass graves – to obtain assistance from local governments in disinterring the bodies and in their identification.
Zapatero, who took office in April 2004, is the grandson of a loyalist army officer who was executed by fascist forces during Franco’s coup that toppled the elected republican government.
Francisco Franco, chief of the Spanish army, appropriated power after the civil war in 1939 and ruled with an iron hand till his death in 1975. Though a sympathiser of Nazi Germany he largely kept Spain out of World War II.