The Lawyer asks that as a precautionary measure the assets be kept in the Pazo until it is resolved “who owns the property”
MADRID, 16 Oct. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Court of First Instance Number 70 of Madrid has scheduled a hearing for next October 21 to hear the allegations of the State Attorney and the family of the dictator Francisco Franco regarding the lawsuit filed by the Administration’s legal services –and which was joined by the Xunta de Galicia– to claim public ownership of 564 movable property found in the Pazo de Meirás, in Sada (A Coruña).
Legal sources have informed Europa Press that Judge Roberto Fernández will hold a hearing on Friday 21 to study the precautionary measures that the State Attorney has claimed in the lawsuit filed on September 21.
Specifically, the court will study the request of the legal services, which demand that the permanence of the assets be agreed within the Pazo de Meirás, and in the Administration’s deposit, until it is resolved “who owns the property”.
For the Lawyer, it is a precautionary measure that is considered “essential” to “guarantee the conservation and protection of all these assets, as well as the integrity of the historical and artistic interests linked to these assets by the place where they are found.”
The Administration claims ownership of a total of 564 movable assets or documents and files that are grouped into three categories: National Heritage assets; of the Spanish Documentary Heritage and assets that are in the public domain due to their affectation to the use of the Pazo de Meirás as the official residence of the head of state.
The legal services of the State filed the lawsuit after the Franco asked the Court of First Instance number 1 of A Coruña to withdraw all the assets deposited in the property that were not claimed by the State at the time.
This month, the Xunta de Galicia announced that it would join the lawsuit filed regarding the consideration of public domain assets and public heritage, both objects from the Emilia Pardo Bazán stage (broadcast in 1938) and those installed by Francisco Franco when he was head of state during the dictatorship.
The Xunta assured that this was reinforcing “the position that it has maintained since the beginning of the process” and supported “the unity of action” with the rest of the administrations, with the aim of working “in a loyal and coordinated manner to favor the general interests of Galicia “.
In fact, the regional Executive recalled that the demand by the State was a step that “had been requesting for a long time.” The judicial route is, for the Xunta, “the only way to guarantee the ownership of these assets”, as has already happened successfully with Pazo de Meirás himself and some related elements.
For this reason, in the brief presented before the Madrid court, the Galician Administration stated its “legitimate interest” to participate in this lawsuit, as it already does in the procedure that is open on the ownership of the property.
The Xunta defended that the permanence of the objects related to Emilia Pardo Bazán and Francisco Franco – when he was head of state – in the Meirás complex “would make the historical events that took place there more transmissible and understandable.”
In relation to this issue, the Galician Minister of Culture, Román Rodríguez, insisted that it is a “complex” process due to the fact that one part of the lawsuit is in a court in A Coruña and another in Madrid.
However, he stressed that the Galician Administration supported this claim as “the way in which these assets become public property”. For all these reasons, he has appealed to “unity of action”. Meanwhile, he has reiterated that what the Declaration of Cultural Interest Asset (BIC) does is “protect an asset, but it does not intervene on the property.”
