Yesterday, the Constitutional Court announced its decision to admit the Government’s appeal for unconstitutionality and to suspend Law 1/2024 repealing Law 14/2018 on democratic memory in Aragon.
The Government argued in its appeal filed in May of this year that Law 1/2024 could violate articles 10.1 and 15 of the Spanish Constitution due to the repeal that this Law made of the precepts relating to the status of victims, as well as being contrary to State powers related to article 149.1.1 and article 149.1.30 of the Constitution itself.
Law 1/2024 was part of the package of so-called Concord Laws, promoted in Aragon and other Autonomous Communities such as Castilla y León and the Valencian Community. These legislative measures disguise the whitewashing and historical revisionism that they are trying to carry out based on the Spanish Constitution, as well as to make invisible the struggle of the victims of the Civil War and Francoism that has taken place in Spain for so many years.
This decision of the Constitutional Court represents a strengthening of democracy and an enhancement of human rights, not only at the national level but also at the European level, as it puts a stop to the trend across Europe of increasing extremism and totalitarianism, which denies the past and the suffering of the victims of human rights violations that took place across the whole European continent.
Nadia Gayoso de la Calle, responsible for the democratic memory and transitional justice area
Madrid, June 18th 2024
