MADRID (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 24th August, 2018) The Spanish government adopted a decree on reburial of remains of Spanish dictator Francisco Franco who ruled the country from 1939 until his death in 1975 and was buried in the Valley of the Fallen memorial, Spanish Deputy Prime Minister Carmen Calvo said on Friday.
"The government adopted a decree-law, which amends the legislation [on historical memory] of 2007 ... to exhume the remains of dictator Francisco Franco from the site where [Civil] War victims are buried," Calvo said at a press conference, adding that the authorities will stay in contact with Franco's family over a new burial place.
According to Calvo, the dictator's current burial place "showed the lack of respect for ... victims buried [at the memorial]."
Spain's new Socialist government announced the possibility of reburial in June.
The memorial was ordered by Franco himself in memory of the victims of the 1936-1939 Spanish Civil War, won by Franco's Nationalists. Both Frankists and war victims from the opposing side are buried there.
The memorial in general and Franco's tomb there have been a source of controversy due to the different views on the Franco era.
