Madrid: Spanish lawmakers today passed historic legislation condemning Gen Francisco Franco's coup and the nearly 40-year dictatorship that followed, brushing aside opposition complaints that the bill would reopen old wounds and threatened to tear Spanish society apart.

The vote in Spain's lower house formally denounces Franco' s fascist regime, mandates that local governments fund efforts to unearth mass graves from the 1936-1939 Civil War, orders the removal of all Franco-era symbols from streets and building, and declares "illegitimate" summary military trials that led to the execution or imprisonment of thousands of the general's enemies.

It also seeks to make symbolic amends to all victims of the war, including Roman Catholic clergy and others executed by militia loyal to the elected, leftist Republican government that Franco rose up against.

The legislation, known as the "Law of Historical Memory," must still pass the Senate considered a formality and be published in the government gazette before it becomes law. Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, whose own grandfather was among the tens of thousands of people executed by Franco's forces, had made the legislation a top priority of his term in office and cobbled together an agreement between his ruling Socialists and several smaller parties.

Source : PTI