Reboiras family turns to Argentine lawsuit to denounce their relative's murder in Ferrol in 1975
The family of Moncho Reboiras has joined an Argentine lawsuit against Francoist crimes after Spanish courts rejected the complaint filed in 2023.
Reboiras family seeks justice in Argentina for 1975 Francoist murder
The family of Moncho Reboiras has joined an Argentine lawsuit to denounce the murder of the Galician activist at the hands of Francoist police, which they describe as a "wall" erected by Spanish justice. According to infobae.com, the announcement was made at a press conference in Vigo by the deceased's brother, Manuel Reboiras, and the lawyer for CEAQUA in Galicia, Irene Álvarez Francés.
The lawsuit has been filed in Argentina against 24 agents from the Police and the Political and Social Brigade of the dictatorship, for the crime of murder concurrent with a crime against humanity. The murder took place in August 1975 in Ferrol.
The path to Spanish justice was closed off in 2023, when an investigating court in Ferrol rejected the complaint filed by the family, citing among other reasons the statute of limitations on the facts and the 1977 amnesty law. Faced with this situation, the family opted to pursue Argentine jurisdiction, where the lawsuit against Francoist crimes has already accumulated 16 years of proceedings.
"There is no political will to deliver justice to the victims of Francoism," denounced Manuel Reboiras. The family is turning to Argentine justice "so that an investigation can be carried out, the truth can be known, and history is not manipulated," he added.
Lawyer Irene Álvarez Francés lamented that the Spanish State is failing to comply with international standards and violating the rights of victims by maintaining the "impunity" of those responsible. "It is a legal anomaly (...), there are laws but there is no political will," she said, and noted that the Constitutional Court is also not guaranteeing the rights of victims.
The action in Argentina is being driven by the State Coordination Body in Support of the Argentine Lawsuit (CEAQUA). Argentine lawyer Julieta Bandilari, defender of those filing complaints against the Francoist regime in that country, acknowledged that the path has been "difficult" but that "great advances" have been achieved.
However, Bandilari also pointed to the main obstacle: "We are always faced with the wall of the Spanish State. They refuse to cooperate." She added that conducting investigations into crimes committed thousands of kilometres away "and also distant in time" entails considerable complexity.
Despite these difficulties, Bandilari emphasised that "struggling is worthwhile" and thanked the "tireless work" of the victims in gathering documents and information. In the specific case of Moncho Reboiras, she expressed her hope that the documentation provided by the family would allow them to "make progress and obtain some form of justice".
Source: Google News AR — Crime