- Title: Spanish dictator Francisco Franco to be exhumed on Thursday
- Date: 23rd October 2019
- Summary: GUADALAJARA, SPAIN (FILE - 2016) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF FORENSICS WORKING IN EXHUMATION OF MASS GRAVE WHERE PEOPLE EXECUTED BY THE FRANCO REGIME WERE BURIED
- Embargoed: 6th November 2019 08:20
- Keywords: Franco exhumation exhumation Spain Valley of the Fallen Spanish civil war mausoleum
- Location: SAN LORENZO DE EL ESCORIAL, MADRID, GUADALAJARA UNKNOWN LOCATIONS, SPAIN AND HENDAYE, FRANCE
- City: SAN LORENZO DE EL ESCORIAL, MADRID, GUADALAJARA UNKNOWN LOCATIONS, SPAIN AND HENDAYE, FRANCE
- Country: Spain
- Topics: Government/Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA008B2BHT1J
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text:EDITORS NOTE: CONTAINS CONVERTED 4:3 FOOTAGE
Spain on Thursday (October 24) will exhume the remains of dictator Francisco Franco's from the the state mausoleum where he was buried in 1975, the government announced on Monday (October 21).
The ruling Socialists have long sought to exhume Franco's remains and turn the Valley of the Fallen complex near the capital Madrid into a memorial to the 500,000 people who were killed during the 1936-39 civil war he unleashed.
The family disputed the exhumation in courts but the supreme court rejected their appeal last month.
Twenty-two members of Franco's family will attend the exhumation from the monument's central basilica at 1030 (0830 GMT) on Thursday, the government said in a statement.
He will be buried alongside his wife in the family crypt at the Mingorrubio-El Pardo cemetery north of Madrid.
The Valley of the Fallen mausoleum holds the bodies of 34,000 Spaniards who died during the civil war, including many from the losing Republican side whose bodies were moved there during Franco's rule without the permission from their families.
Neither media nor the general public will be allowed to watch the proceedings and access to the Valley of the Fallen has been shut for days.
The location of Franco's tomb continues to fracture Spanish opinion with 43% in favour of the move and 32.5% against, according to a poll published by El Mundo last week.
Spain is facing its fourth election in four years in November and moving Franco's remains from the state mausoleum had long been a Socialist pledge.
(Production: Catherine Macdonald) - Copyright Holder: FILE REUTERS (CAN SELL)
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