Synopsis

Franco on Trial is the upcoming documentary by Dietmar Post and Lucía Palacios. After the success of Franco´s Settlers, their first encounter with Franco’s dictatorship, they are now setting their sights on one of the darkest chapters of European history: the presumed organized extermination that took place during the coup, the war, and the subsequent dictatorship led by Franco, as well as Argentina’s current effort, by invoking the principle of universal jurisdiction, to prosecute Francoists accused of committing crimes against humanity. This principle allows a foreign court to investigate human rights crimes in the event that the country in which they were committed refuses to do so, as in the case of Spain. Is this the start of a countdown to the end of immunity for Francoist crimes? The film is also a sore reminder of an issue that still stands today: the clear-cut accountability held by Germany, Italy, and Portugal in many of these crimes.