Franco exhumation case to proceed

The legal pro­ceed­ings for the ex­huma­tion of the mor­tal re­mains of the dic­ta­tor Fran­cisco Franco, buried in the Valle de los Caídos (val­ley of the fallen) may con­tinue, at least for the mo­ment.

The de­ci­sion not to grant the re­quest of the dic­ta­tor’s fam­ily mem­bers, and pre­ven­ta­tively stop pro­ceed­ings, was made in the supreme court yes­ter­day. How­ever, the court also re­called that the fam­ily may sub­mit an ap­peal to the supreme court against the po­ten­tial fu­ture ex­huma­tion agree­ment. Franco’s de­scen­dants are more than likely to make this ap­peal, as they be­lieve that the Span­ish gov­ern­ment is car­ry­ing out an “ir­reg­u­lar” process, be­cause it only af­fects Franco’s re­mains, rather than all the bod­ies buried in the Valle de los Caídos, among other things.

Thus, until the supreme court pro­nounces a rul­ing on the mer­its of the case, the re­mains of the dic­ta­tor are to stay where they are.