Amnesty in call for civil war justice

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Giles Tremlett in Madrid
Tuesday July 19, 2005
The Guardian

Spain must provide justice for tens of thousands of people killed by General Franco's death squads during and after the Spanish civil war, Amnesty International said yesterday.

The human rights organisation urged the Spanish government to end the impunity enjoyed by those who carried out crimes on behalf of Franco's 36-year dictatorship.

"Instead of truth about the crimes of the past, its place has been filled with silence and in some cases denial, in the absence of an exhaustive and impartial investigation," it said in a special report.

Amnesty's appeal came 30 years after Franco's death and as the Socialist government of prime minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero studies measures to recognise and compensate victims.
It also urged the creation of a truth commission or an equivalent body to investigate atrocities by both sides during the war.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/spain/article/0,2763,1531407,00.html