Spain moves closer to exhuming late dictator Francisco Franco’s remains following court ruling

Franco, who ruled with an iron fist following the end of the country’s 1936-39 civil war, is buried in an imposing basilica 50 kilometres outside Madrid

Many on the left are repulsed by the huge memorial at the Valley of the Fallen, comparing it to a monument glorifying Hitler

2-MIN READ2-MIN

Protesters carry banners with a picture of Adolf Hitler and Francisco Franco during a protest outside Madrid's Supreme Court on Tuesday. Photo: Reuters

Published: 6:56pm, 24 Sep 2019Updated: 7:01pm, 24 Sep 2019

Spain’s Supreme Court on Tuesday gave the green light for the government to remove the remains of Francisco Franco from a grandiose state mausoleum, rejecting an appeal against it by the late dictator’s descendants.

In a unanimous ruling, the court decided “to completely reject the appeal lodged by the family in relation to Francisco Franco’s exhumation,” the judges wrote.

Franco, who ruled with an iron fist following the end of the 1936-39 civil war, is buried in an imposing basilica carved into a mountain in the Valley of the Fallen, 50 kilometres outside Madrid.

But plans to move his remains to another site has divided opinion in Spain, which is still conflicted over the dictatorship that ended with Franco’s death in 1975.

The Valley of the Fallen Memorial in San Lorenzo del Escorial. Photo: EPA

Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez’s government has made transferring his remains a priority, saying Spain should not “continue to glorify” the dictator, whose hillside mausoleum is topped by a 150-metre cross and has attracted both tourists and rightwing sympathisers.