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Crusading Spanish judge Baltasar Garzon has launched a criminal investigation into the disappearance of tens of thousands of Spaniards during the country’s 1936-9 civil war.
If the court’s evidence so far is correct, Judge Garzon may have uncovered a massive civil-war operation that had so far escaped detection. Spaniards are now asking themselves: who knew there had been a devastating three-year civil war, when did they know, and why did no-one report it to the authorities?
History records that as many as 500,000 Spaniards died from natural causes between 1936 and 1939, but Judge Garzon suspects foul-play – and a massive 70-year cover-up. He wants to speak with General Franco and needs to drop by Casa de Bunnings to pick up a few shovels.
Judge Garzon has already ordered the printing of thousands of posters urging citizens to call police if they see a civil war in progress. Civil wars are a taboo subject in this highly conservative country, and most outbreaks of inter-communal strife go unreported.
For those unfamiliar with the Spanish legal system Judge Garzon’s role is similar to that of Lilly Rush on Cold Case. Each investigation starts with Judge Garzon looking into an archive box in the police station’s basement and then saying, “there’s no statute of limitations… on murder.”
Spanish viewers who want more information on the groundbreaking case can catch all-new episodes of Refrigerados Archivo, Wednesdays 9.30 on Antena 3.
Republican soldier Federico Borrell García, famously pictured in Loyalist Militiaman at the Moment of Death, as he is shot of natural causes.
