The Court of First Instance number 70 of Madrid considered the entire complaint filed by the General Administration of the State, joined by the Xunta and the City Hall of Sada, for the ownership of the property of the Pazo de Meirás claimed by the Francos.
The judgment, against which there is an appeal, specifies, in a 90-page judgment, that “at no time is it proven that the State made a declaration of recognition of the ownership of these specific assets”. in favor of the accused“.
“The position maintained by the State in the provisional execution followed before the Court of First Instance of La Coruña did not entail the performance of acts from which the aforementioned Sunday recognition could be deduced with regard to the goods which constitute the purpose of this procedure.
“For all this, and on the basis of the legal reasoning carried out throughout this resolution, it is appropriate fully assess the claim filedmust therefore make the declarations of ownership provided for therein”, he underlines in a judgment to which Europa Press had access.
Goods currently in stock
Previously, this court had already agreed that the assets remaining in the Pazo de Meirás and the claimed state would remain in custody there until the end of the trial.
It thus favorably resolved the precautionary measure requested by the General Administration of the State and the National Heritage Administration Council and decreed that the properties identified in the lawsuit, including those having belonged to the writer Emilia Pardo Bazán , qdetained in state custody.
The state had filed a lawsuit against the Franco family in which it claimed ownership of 564 properties in the Pazo de Meirás. He did this after the Francos asked the Court of First Instance of La Coruña to remove all the goods deposited in the property that were not claimed by the state at the time.
Concretely, the Prosecutor’s Office will present before the Madrid courts a trial against the dictator’s heirs claiming ownership of much of the movable property found in the mansion.
There were a total of 564 movable assets or documents and files which can be grouped into three categories: national heritage assets; assets of Spanish documentary heritage and property that is in the public domain due to its impact on the use of the Pazo de Meirás as the official residence of the head of state.
“And what’s more, they form part of the Spanish historical heritage for its historical and artistic interest, linked, on the one hand, to the figure of the writer Emilia Pardo Bazán, and on the other hand, to the official activity carried out during the Franco dictatorship”, argued the State.
“A public good”
After learning of the judgment, the Sada City Hall, where the Pazo de Meirás is located, expressed its satisfaction “by verifying that Justice continues to agree with us in the work we have carried out to guarantee the property public of the Pazo de Meirás”. Meiras.” “At Sada we have always defended that the Pazo is a public good and that everything it conserves is heritage of citizens, not of the heirs of the dictator“.
For its part, the Commission for the Recovery of Historical Memory highlights the “new legal blow” dealt to the dictator’s family, but emphasizes that “the most relevant resolution is pending, the one that the Supreme Court must decide on appeals in cassation presented where ownership of the property will be definitively determined.
