The Franco Dictatorship Facing Justice in Argentina: Domestic Effects of Transnational Accountability Efforts on Local Victims' Claims Twenty Years After the Pinochet Case

Twenty years after the Pinochet Case (1998) -the extradition request against the former Chilean dictator in Madrid’s National Court after his detention in London- the crimes of the Franco dictatorship (1939-1975) are currently being investigated before a court in Buenos Aires. The so-called ‘Argentine complaint’ was presented by victims of the Franco regime in 2010 as a reaction to the suspension of Ex-Magistrate Baltasar Garzón and later removal from his office, after his failed attempt to investigate the crimes of the Civil War (1936-1939) and the Francoist repression before the Spanish Audiencia Nacional. Despite a downward tendency in European countries, a remarkable practice of applying universal jurisdiction has evolved over the past twenty years. After the end of the East-West conflict, judicial efforts at fighting internal impunity regarding past atrocities and ‘crimes against humanity’ via international judicial bodies, or indeed national courts belonging to other states, seemed a viable option as a complement to domestic trials. The rapid development of international criminal jurisdiction raises the question of what role transnational human rights trials play for accountability efforts and the fight against impunity as well as local victims’ claims. The paper analyzes how the attempts to investigate Francoist perpetrators before Argentinean courts with the application of universal jurisdiction shift the perspective in public Spanish debate to the claims of victims of the Franco dictatorship, making victims as well as victims’ associations visible in the public sphere. I will discuss the socio-political, judicial, and symbolic consequences of the ‘Argentine complaint’ regarding the public construction of victims, focusing on how legal human rights discourses today are adopted by civil society groups in Spain in order to gain visibility by framing the Francoist repression within an international human rights language. The contribution particularly moves from the ‘Pinochet Case’ to the example of the ongoing complaints in Argentina. The latter case study is highly significant as it inverts the original relationship between Global South and North, with human rights organizations using the proceedings to try to extend the practice of universal jurisdiction to continents in the Global South. Paying special attention to civil society actors like victims’ associations, transnational human rights activists and lawyers and how they strategically use human rights discourses, notably claiming truth, justice, and reparations for victims of Francoist repression, the paper ultimately offers a rich cross regional and transatlantic analysis, illustrating that the creative transnational adoption of international human rights language can be a powerful strategic mobilizing tool for increasing domestic accountability efforts in Spain.