The Prosecutor's Office admits for the first time a crime of torture in a detention by the Francoist police

BarcelonaThe Barcelona Prosecutor's Office has closed the torture investigation to the activist and philologist Blanca Serra, the first victim who went directly to the Prosecutor's Office for Historical Memory and not to the courtsThus, she is recognized as a victim of Francoism, and this is done for the first time based on the 2022 Democratic Memory Law. Blanca Serra and her sister, the historian Eva Serra – who died in 2018 – were detained at the Via La7 police station in 1982. The investigation concludes that during their arrest in February 1977, they suffered "torture perpetrated in a context of crimes against humanity." The Public Prosecutor's Office adds that the Political-Social Brigade arrested them solely for their political activity opposing the dictatorship and that they "inflicted physical and psychological violence on them to obtain information and a confession, which caused them traumatic aftereffects." All of this occurred within a context of persecution and political repression established by Francoism, the Public Prosecutor's Office adds in a statement.

However, the investigation has not yet clarified the identity of the perpetrators. Therefore, the Public Prosecutor's Office has opted to file a complaint in court and has requested that the case be provisionally dismissed due to a lack of known perpetrators. Both Òmnium and Irídia, which have supported Serra throughout the proceedings, consider the investigation into the officers' identities "insufficient." In fact, lawyer Sònia Olivella has stated that among the files collected during the investigation are documents that reveal the identities of the police officers involved. This Wednesday, the prosecutor for memory and human rights, Sara Gómez, delivered the files to Serra in a meeting that lasted approximately two hours. These files include, among others, the official record of the search and seizure at the Serra sisters' home during their first arrest and the statement they signed during their second arrest, after approximately three days of torture.

"It's disheartening to see that the only body created in 50 years to break the system of impunity, this Democratic Memory Prosecutor's Office, has fallen short," Olivella stated. The lawyer attributes this decision by the Prosecutor's Office to the "lack of political will on the part of the senior prosecutor," that is, the head of the Democratic Memory division at the Supreme Court, a position held by former Attorney General and former Minister of Justice Dolores Delgado.

This Thursday, Serra also made public a letter addressed to prosecutors Gómez and Delgado. "I had hoped that the new specialized Democratic Memory Prosecutor's Offices could pave the way to finally end the impunity for the crimes of the Franco regime," she criticized. Nevertheless, he acknowledges the "undeniable symbolic and institutional value" of having been the first victim to give a statement to the Prosecutor's Office, and recalls "the duty to guarantee the rights to truth, justice, reparation, and guarantees of non-repetition in relation to crimes against humanity."

The option of reopening the case

The decree with which the Prosecutor's Office has closed the investigation cannot be appealed, but the fact that it is requesting a provisional dismissal in court leaves open the possibility of reopening the investigation if new information comes to light in the future that helps identify those responsible for the torture. To officially close the case, the court must issue a ruling that can be appealed, and Olivella has said that they will discuss with Serra whether they want to continue down this path. Furthermore, the Prosecutor's Office expressly states that the dismissal of the criminal investigation does not preclude the possibility of pursuing other legal actions provided for by law through civil proceedings.

Before Blanca Serra filed her complaint with the Prosecutor's Office, all the complaints that victims of Francoism had brought to the courts The cases had been shelved because the courts interpreted the statute of limitations as having expired and the 1977 amnesty law as preventing their investigation. Just this week, A court in Madrid has summoned the complainant, Carlos Serrano Suárez, to testify. and Agustín Costo Martínez, one of the five police officers against whom a lawsuit has been filed for torture in 1975. The magistrate has also requested full identifying information for the officers.

Serra reported that both she and her sister had been tortured on four separate occasions. who were arrested during the Transition: in February 1977, 1980, 1981 and 1982As a result of this complaint, the Prosecutor's Office opened an investigation into the State for torture during the Franco regime for the first time, interpreting that the 2022 law on democratic memory obliges it to do so.