Why are Francisco Franco’s remains being exhumed?

The Supreme Court in Spain has ruled that the remains of Francisco Franco should be exhumed and moved to a new location.

In a unanimous verdict, the judges backed the government's plan to move the remains of the dictator from a state mausoleum to a less contentious site. The court rejected an appeal from Franco's relatives against the exhumation.

Franco won the 1930s civil war with the help of Nazi Germany and Mussolini's Italy. He went on to rule Spain until 1975. The BBC says the general “fought a brutal war against democracy... and thereafter presided over a regime of state terror and national brainwashing through the controlled media and the state education system”.

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Franco’s remains are currently in a vast mausoleum just outside Madrid called the Valley of the Fallen. The site has divided opinion in Spain. Many feel it is a monument to fascism.

In August, the government backed plans to move Franco’s remains next to those of his wife in El Pardo cemetery north of Madrid, where other politicians rest.

Agreeing with the government, the court said it had decided to “completely reject the appeal lodged by the family in relation to Francisco Franco's exhumation”.

Taking to Twitter, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez welcomed the verdict as a "great victory for democracy".

The BBC’s Guy Hedgecoe said that the verdict could be a boost to the government at a crucial time. “If Franco's remains are moved by 10 November it would give the Socialists a boost in the general election to be held that day,” he wrote.

Franco’s relatives cannot appeal the decision, but their lawyer, Luis Felipe Utrera, told Spanish public broadcaster TVE that they plan to take the battle “to the end” by going to the country's constitutional court and the European Court of Human Rights.

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