The Government, through the Secretariat of State for Democratic Memory, has announced that it will appeal the ruling of the Contentious-Administrative Court number 10 in Madrid that has canceled the construction license granted by the City Council of San Lorenzo de El Escorial to access the crypts of Cuelgamuros (the Valley of the Fallen) and proceed to the exhumations of mortal remains of victims of Francoism and the Civil War, as confirmed by sources from the Ministry of the Presidency, Relations with the Cortes and Democratic Memory.
The department headed by Minister Félix Bolaños has also recalled that the same court “has already imposed precautionary measuresduring this same procedure, which were appealed and lifted” by the Superior Court of Justice of Madrid.
“The Government reaffirms its commitment to location and recovery of the remains of the victimsjust as his relatives wish,” the sources have specified.
The ruling, to which Europa Press had access, estimates the appeal filed by the Franco Foundation and the Association for Reconciliation and Historical Memory, among other appellants, against the Agreement of the Local Government Board, of June 24, 2021, of the San Lorenzo de El Escorial City Council, which is annulled.
The appeal challenged the resolution of the City Council of the aforementioned town by which a building permit was authorized for the accesses to the crypts of the Basilica of Santa Cruz del Valle de los Caídos. The appellants maintained that the works they do not have “the condition of maintenance works, nor rehabilitation, but these are consolidation, demolition and new construction works.