Spain rules Franco regime “illegal” in new memory law

By CIARÁN GILES
Associated Press

MADRID (AP) — Spain’s lower house of parliament has approved a historical memory law that declares illegal the regime of former dictator Gen. Francisco Franco and makes the central government responsible for the recovery of the bodies of tens of thousands of people killed in the Spanish Civil War or by the dictatorship. Outlawing the nearly 40-year Franco regime, the new law nullifies the legality of the dictatorship’s courts and their rulings. It also bans the Francisco Franco Foundation and all glorification of the former dictator. The law aims to improve on a 2007 law that experts and activists agreed fell short of emptying the hundreds of mass graves and addressing other issues.