The State Coordinator for Support for the Argentine Complaint (CEAQUA) and the March 3 Victims’ Association are studying the case file of the prosecution of the former Minister of the Interior of the Government of Spain during the transition at the Supreme Court of Argentina .
The Federal Chamber of Cassation of Argentinathe highest court in the country, ratified the withdrawal of the prosecution of Rodolfo Martín VillaMinister of the Interior of the Government of Spain in the transition, to dismiss the appeal of the complaint lodged by various associations against the annulment of the injunction to prosecute it for the deaths of several people between 1976 and 1978, including those that occurred in Vitoria-Gasteiz on March 3, 1976. After ratification, the State Coordinator for the Support of the Argentine Complaint (CEAQUA) and the Association of Victims of March 3 they study resort to the Supreme Court of Argentina the file of the prosecution.
In this regard, the Argentine court has confirmed that there is no evidence to prosecute Martín Villa, which is a setback for the groups that wanted to prosecute the former minister.
Argentine judge María Servini prosecuted Martín Villa in October 2021 for four deaths from police shootings, three of them in Vitoria-Gasteiz in March 1976, when he was Minister of Trade Union Relations, and another in Pamplona in July 1978, in his phase from the interior minister.
His prosecution began with the arrest warrant issued by the magistrate in October 2014. Last December, the Argentine Cassation Chamber warned that this qualification was “unsubstantiated” and argued that in a voluntary statement to magistrate Servini, in September 2021, he had assured , that “the Transition was the opposite of genocide and crimes against humanity, it was a process of reconciliation between Spaniards and the restoration of freedoms.”
CEAQUA and the Association of Victims of March 3 “deeply” regret
The State Coordinator for Support for the Argentine Complaint (CEAQUA) and the Association of Victims of March 3 know the decision of the Argentine judiciary and have “deeply” regretted the meaning of the resolution and disagree with its content, although They have reminded that the former minister is still being charged in the Argentine complaint “for a total of twelve murders, aggravated in a context of crimes against humanity”, for which the court must deepen the investigation to order his prosecution again.
They have recalled that this is already taking place, as Judge María Servini recently ordered and agreed to a series of evidence proceedings “to further strengthen the burden of proof regarding Martín Villa’s mediating authorship and responsibility in the above crimes.”
“Our determination to move forward is firm, and these setbacks will not intimidate us. On the contrary, they strengthen us to continue to fight for full justice, thereby breaking the impunity that the Spanish state maintains with the responsible Francoists who committed very serious violations of human rights committed, committed and aggravated in a context of crimes against humanity,” they concluded.
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Source: EITB
I’m Wayne Wickman, a professional journalist and author for Today Times Live. My specialty is covering global news and current events, offering readers a unique perspective on the world’s most pressing issues. I’m passionate about storytelling and helping people stay informed on the goings-on of our planet.
