Political prisoners A political prisoner is someone imprisoned for their political activity. The political offense is not always the official reason for the prisoner's detention. There is no internationally recognized legal definition of the concept, although nu ...

Francoist Spain Francoist Spain ( es, España franquista), or the Francoist dictatorship (), was the period of Spanish history between 1939 and 1975, when Francisco Franco ruled Spain after the Spanish Civil War with the title . After his death in 1975, Spai ...

were interned in concentration camps, prisons and mental institutions. At the end of the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War ( es, Guerra Civil Española)) or The Revolution ( es, La Revolución, link=no) among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War ( es, Cuarta Guerra Carlista, link=no) among Carlists, and The Rebellion ( es, La Rebelión, link ...

, according to the

Francoist State Francoist Spain ( es, España franquista), or the Francoist dictatorship (), was the period of Spanish history between 1939 and 1975, when Francisco Franco ruled Spain after the Spanish Civil War with the title . After his death in 1975, Spai ...

's figures, there were more than 270,000 men and women held in prisons, and some 500,000 had fled into exile. In the Second World War, large numbers of refugees from Spain were returned or interned in

Nazi concentration camps From 1933 to 1945, Nazi Germany operated more than a thousand concentration camps, (officially) or (more commonly). The Nazi concentration camps are distinguished from other types of Nazi camps such as forced-labor camps, as well as con ...

as ''stateless enemies''. Releasing all political prisoners was a part of the

transition to democracy Democratization, or democratisation, is the transition to a more democratic political regime, including substantive political changes moving in a democratic direction. It may be a hybrid regime in transition from an authoritarian regime to a full ...

after the death of the

caudillo A ''caudillo'' ( , ; osp, cabdillo, from Latin , diminutive of ''caput'' "head") is a type of personalist leader wielding military and political power. There is no precise definition of ''caudillo'', which is often used interchangeably with " ...

Francisco Franco in 1975. The freeing of political prisoners was part of the Spanish 1977 Amnesty Law, promulgated on 15 October 1977, and entered into force on 17 October of that same year.Ley 46/1977, de 15 de octubre, de Amnistia.
'' BOE'' núm. 248, de 17 de octubre de 1977, páginas 22765 a 22766 (2 págs.). (BOE-A-1977-24937). Accessed online 25 October 2017. In 2014, an Argentinian judge issued warrants for the arrest of Antonio González Pacheco, a Spanish policeman accused of torturing prisoners during Franco's military rule, but the

Spanish High Court The Audiencia Nacional (; en, National Court) is a centralised court in Spain with jurisdiction over all of the Spanish territory. It is specialised in a certain scope of delinquency, having original jurisdiction over major crimes such as those ...

refused on the basis that the statute of limitations had run out on the accusation against him.

Website

A website called the "Portal de Víctimas de la Guerra Civil y Represaliados del Franquismo" is maintained under the auspices of the Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport. As the name implies, it makes available information regarding victims of the Civil War and the Francoist State. As some of the victims were refugees, the portal not only draws on Spanish archival material, but also foreign sources, including information about Spanish people held in Nazi concentration camps.

References

{{Reflist Prisoners and detainees of Spain Francoist Spain Political prisoners in Spain Political prisoners in former countries

Website

See also

References