The Minister of Territorial Policy and Democratic Memory, Ángel Víctor Torres, has today delivered to the family of Salvador Puig Antich a declaration of Recognition and Reparation as a victim of Franco’s regime. Puig Antich was an activist in the anti-Franco struggle and victim of the repression of the regime, at only 25 years old. His conviction was unanimously rejected by the opposition to the totalitarian regime and the international community, but, despite this, he was executed with the method of the vile garrotte on March 2, 1974. Today’s act represents an integral recognition of his person and a condemnation of the judgment and the court that judged him, the invalidity of which is initialled by this declaration. Immaculate Puig Antich, who was “very excited” at the event, who went with her sisters Montserrat, Carme and Merçona, said that they have been fighting “for the dignity” of their brother for 50 years.

Salvador Puig Antich, who became a symbol of the Catalan left, is considered a victim, under Article 3 of Law 20/2022 on Democratic Memory, which qualifies in this way any person who has suffered physical, moral or psychological damage, property damage, or substantial impairment of his fundamental rights, which constitute violations of international human rights standards and international humanitarian law during the coup, the dictatorship and the first three years of the transition, until the Constitution of 1978.

The Secretary of State for Democratic Memory, Fernando Martínez, has recalled that the Democratic Memory Law, “declares the illegality and illegitimacy of the courts, jurors or any other criminal and administrative bodies, such as the Councils of War, constituted to impose sentences or sanctions of a personal nature, as well as the nullity of the sentences and resolutions they issued, as they are contrary to law and violate the most elementary demands to a fair trial.”