Irregularities at Sant Andreu Cemetery: Father's grave found empty without warning

BarcelonaIn 2023, a woman went to the Sant Andreu Cemetery in Barcelona to visit her father's grave, but, to her surprise, she found it empty: the tombstone, the glass, and even the vase were gone. The man's remains had been removed eight months earlier due to non-payment and had been deposited in the general ossuary, but the notification from Barcelona Cemeteries informing her that payment had not been made and that the remains would be exhumed had been sent to an incorrect address that did not match the family's home. "It was a very strong shock. You take flowers to your father and you think there's nothing left," the family's lawyer explained to ARA.

The company that manages the cemeteries in the Catalan capital also made no further attempt to notify her of the situation. Faced with this situation, the family initiated liability proceedings, considering it to be negligence on the part of Barcelona Cemeteries. Finally, the Barcelona Ombudsman's Office has ruled in their favor and concluded that there were irregularities in the process. "The administration has treated them poorly, they want compensation for the moral damages caused, and, above all, they want this not to happen again, for what they experienced not to be repeated," maintain sources from the family's defense team.

The Ombudsman's Office considers that the actions of Cementerios de Barcelona have been inadequate: neither in notifying the expiration of the burial nor in processing the claim for financial liability filed by the victim. According to current regulations, burial is a short-term concession that requires an annual payment, and in this case, a revocation file was opened because the money was not being received, as established by the Barcelona Municipal Cemeteries Ordinance (OMCB). However, the Ombudsman's Office has noted deficiencies in the notification of the expiration of the grave, as it was sent to the wrong address and, when it was returned, the municipal register was not consulted, as determined by the OMCB and case law.

The Ombudsman's Office also warns that this defect in the notification may result in the invalidation of the declaration of expiration of the grave of the victim's father and open the way to possible compensation. It considers that the Ombudsman's Office did not act with "the minimum legally required diligence to locate the correct address" of the woman. Furthermore, when Cementerios de Barcelona carried out the exhumation of the remains, it did not certify the condition of the grave with a photograph, which, in the Ombudsman's opinion, weakens the justification for the measure taken, as there is no evidence of the grave's condition at the time it was decided to empty it.

"Following protocols"

The Audit Office also considers that the administrative procedure for claiming patrimonial liability followed by Cementerios de Barcelona "did not comply with the established legal guarantees," which may affect the validity of the procedure and the rights of the affected party. For all these reasons, the Audit Office maintains that, with a view to future actions, it is necessary to review the procedure before declaring the affected party's expiration, that the damages caused to people be compensated, and that, when it has to notify anything, it acts with the minimum legally required diligence to locate the correct address of the interested parties. The Audit Office also considers that the Audit Office must be able to pay the fees that renewed the concession for the years 2021 and 2022. For this reason, in May 2022, it initiated the expiration procedure due to non-payment and, as it did not receive any response to the notifications it sent, in August of that same year it declared the concession void. The Audit Office also considers that, at the time of the events, they did not have access to the census data. Therefore, they consider that "the actions carried out are in accordance with the current procedure and the data available at that time."