Politics

Human rights groups and families of victims petitioned an Argentine court on Wednesday to investigate alleged crimes against humanity during the Francisco Franco dictatorship in Spain from the 1930s to the 1970s.

"The accusation is based on crimes of genocide committed by the Franco dictatorship," said Carlos Slepoy, the lawyer who sued on behalf of two victims'' families and rights groups. It was not immediately clear whether the Argentine court would take up the petition.

In Spain, there has never been a comprehensive investigation into the deaths of thousands of people shot and buried in mass graves during the 1936-39 civil war and Franco''s subsequent rule.

Slepoy argued the matter fell under universal jurisdiction, meaning perpetrators of crimes such as genocide could be tried anywhere if the courts of their own country failed to prosecute.

The legal move is a turning of the tables. In the past, victims of the 1976-1983 Argentine "Dirty War" sought justice through European courts, which have passed sentences in absentia against South American human rights abusers.

"It''s very auspicious that an Argentine tribunal should carry this out, in the same way that we applauded the fact that a Spanish tribunal looked into the crimes committed in the Americas," Slepoy said.

Slepoy said the aim of the suit was to force Spain to produce a list of ministers and military leaders from the Franco era who are still alive, so they could eventually be put on trial.

One of the most famous cases of universal jurisdiction is former Argentine navy officer Alfredo Astiz, known as the "Blonde Angel of Death," who was sentenced in absentia to life imprisonment in France for the kidnapping and torture of two French nuns in Argentina.

Astiz is now on trial in Argentina, where courts have reopened human rights abuse cases.